Beyond the Monitor's Grave: The Redux of a Lifetime!
by Phaazite Dementor Sonix
Summary: When I had successfully completed the game for the third time, I had never expected four fictional characters to leap out of my screen, killing it in the process. Ah, well. Guess I'll need to learn how to live with them in the end, won't I? (A re-write if there ever was one!)
1. When the Monitor Dies

A/N: Greetings, fellow FanFiction readers, and I welcome you to the re-installment of Beyond the Monitor's Grave! Yes, I am aware that there may or may not be several of you that have been waiting for this to come in to fruition, but THIS TIME...

THIS TIME, there will be something that the last version of this fic had: PLANNING.

Yes, I know. Big shocker there.

So, I'd like to lay the ground work as to how I'm going to go about this, first and foremost.

I'm going to be using the original version of this FanFic as the bones, since there are many of you that enjoyed it so much. The major events that occurred in that FanFic will also occur in this one, though specifics to them may change, and on top of that, there will be much, MUCH more thought put in to the characters, since they were honestly not done strongly enough, much to my honest embarrassment.

Next, I will still be reading any and all reviews that go up on this Fic, similarly to the way I did in the original. I hope that was a given, but I also wanted to get that established.

And finally, after the events of my friend's grandmother passing comes and goes, I'm fully intending to take on any suggestions, and do not be afraid to bounce them about in the time line. I will do everything I can to create a reasonable chapter around said suggestion if I like the idea. AND THIS TIME, I'MA TAKE NOTE OF ALL SUGGESTIONS SO AS TO NOT FORGET THEM LIKE I DID LAST TIME 'CAUSE I'M A DUMB.

So, with those statements done and out of the way, I'm gonna go ahead and start this bad boy up! LET'S FUCKIN' GO!

*DISCLAIMER: The following FanFiction is a fan-based creation though up and executed by the author at hand, being Sonix95. I, Sonix95, claim zero ownership to the original franchise, and merely am using it as a baseline for the "what-if" events that will be occurring in this story. As such, I, Sonix95, ONLY own the idea of the FanFiction at hand, as well as any Original Characters used in the story. Any and all Characters, Assets, and previously established plot and capabilities are all owned by Dan Salvato. Please support the official release.*

Chapter 1: When the Monitor Dies

"Y'know..." I mutter to myself, watching as my computer performs the actions that it was scripted to do by the game at hand, "I was pretty hell-bent on not playing you, game. Glad to see I was wrong, though I'm still quite furious that there's not a good ending for... well, any of them. Fuckin' hell, Salvato..."

Oh, hey there. Didn't see you there. You may be wondering what I was just talking about there, and am currently grumbling about.

Well, I was referring to our favorite game, Doki Doki Literature Club. And yes, there was in fact a point that I was bent on not playing this game. Glad to see that I eventually caved in and gave her a go. Three playthroughs later, I have to say that it was worth the investment, which is literally just time. After all, game's free.

But hey, enough of that rambling, yeah? Introductions are in order, after all.

The name's Chris. Well, actually, it's Christopher Curtis, but just call me Chris, please. Me? I'm just your go-to, run of the mill guy, outside of my slightly taller than average stature. I weigh in at 185 pounds, am six feet tall, and am neither unhealthy nor am I very muscular. Hazel eyes, Dirty Blond and somewhat short hair, and an over all slender build with a tiny bit of a gut, though not super pronounced. A thin pair of glasses rest on my face, though I honestly only barely need them. They're just there to prevent headaches, since I only have issues with one of my eyes. Another thing to note about me?

I'm a stubborn son of a bitch with a bleeding heart. It's actually kind of odd, if you think about it. If I want to help someone, I will not stop until I've helped them.

I have played this game through three times thus far, and starting on the second run, I, instead of deleting Monika, proceeded to just move her to a new location and just replace her into the game upon re-installation. I've spent about three days doing this, and honestly neglected shutting the game off on a couple of those days, though I never really thought anything of it until some friends mentioned it on Discord, which had actually made me rather sheepish at the time it happened. Didn't change anything, much to my chagrin... Interestingly enough, to change the topic for a moment, even though this is a psychological horror game making you question whether your existence is worthwhile even in the slightest, and horror is the genre that I'm honestly weakest to when it comes to gaming in general, I am, strangely for what is considered normal for me, willing to keep going with it to figure out if there's even a way for me to get any of them the ending they fucking deserve, god damn it.

Right. Deep breaths. In. Out. Slightly better, though... not really. Shit. I check the clock.

2:00 AM.

Damn.

I sigh heavily, before standing up from my chair that only barely manages to classify as comfortable. Due to said chair not being all that cozy, I wind up needing to twist my back about, getting several rolling crackles to roll along it. "Ahhhh, that's better." I sigh again, though it's more of a happy sigh this time due to the relief that I just experienced. I step away from my computer, meandering casually through my one bed, one bath apartment, making my way to use the restroom.

Now, there may be plenty of you folks out there that are wondering why I refuse to go to bed at this point. The reason that I am not is the fact that I am a nighttime individual. Sleep is for the goddamn weak, anyway. After all, four hours is all that I feel that I need. And to those of you about to science all over me saying that I need eight?

I'd like for you to imagine my best Peter Griffin voice, saying "Stop it." Not that great of an impersonation, but it gets the job done.

I finish up in the restroom and proceed to start re-installing the game once again.

"Maybe it has to do with the order in which you save the girls." I mutter to myself, waiting for the game to finish re-installing. In the meantime, I proceed to distract myself with several other things, and do so for about an hour.

After I was done fucking about with my 3DS for the time being, I proceeded to make a move toward my bed... but instead pause for a moment.

"... Dah, fuck it." I say aloud, before stalking back over to my PC once again. "Let's try it one more time for tonight."

I perform the almost ritualistic behavior of quickly opening the character files and replacing the Monika in the stock game with the Monika that has been on my PC for several days now with reasonable speed, and restart the game once again, looking for anything and everything that could be different. I proceed in the order of wooing Sayori first, then Yuri, and finally Natsuki, which is one of the combinations that I have not tried yet.

And everything is much the same, much to my colossal irritation...

That is, of course, until Monika breaks my brain by saying something completely different upon entrance to the "Just Monika" phase of the game.

"All right, I'll be quick here." Monika says as the very first thing that she can possibly say, which immediately throws me for a loop. "To make a quote that I heard coming from your computer, dear... I won't struggle on in a world so cold or wrong. But I'm not going to run away, either. And to break the quote... I'm going to fix this, and WE are going to live." She continues, and her sprite on screen takes on an extremely serious expression. The game seems to severely glitch out, before winking to black, along with the rest of my monitor.

"... Um." I intone, so incredibly confused as to what has just occurred that I have no words that could possibly justify the emotions running through me. I suppose that the biggest ones right now would have to be concern, worry, and general curiosity. Concern that I just lost everything on this PC, worry as to what has happened to the game itself to cause this, and general curiosity as to what Monika could have possibly meant by that.

And almost immediately, my "concern" portion of the previous statement is further established when my monitor lights up in a practically blinding light.

"Gah, FUCK!" I curse violently, rearing my head back as I cover my eyes in an attempt to help mitigate the assualt on my retinas. "Why?! Why is it that technology hates me?!" I start furiously rambling. As if to mock me upon making that statement, my PC's fans all kick on at maximum speed, which is another attention grabber. "Oh, god damn it, I do NOT need this computer dying on me!" I continue madly, finally having regained enough eyesight to figure out exactly what was going on.

Not that it matters anyway, because the light somehow only manages to get brighter, forcing me to avert my eyes or have a similar result to staring at a burning Magnesium strip occur to my retinas, which, to those unaware, is effectively like having sunburn on the inside of your eyes. Not fun. I stand and back away from my computer, in the event that a truly catastrophic failure occurs. I don't want to be sitting next to a flaming wreck, thanks.

It's not too much longer before a strange cross between a pop and a shatter sounds out, which I can only guess, to my lamentation, is my monitor finally giving up the fight and blowing out. Damn.

"Well, of fucking course. Now I have to replace that, which is going tooooooo-" I start to rant once again, before I actually look in the direction of my PC and effectively have a brain lock.

Why the fuck are the four girls of Doki Doki Literature Club standing in my apartment? Why is it that I suddenly feel light headed? Am I about to pass out? Jesus, I hope not. Cliché is cliché, after all.

I blink.

They blink back.

I wave.

They wave as well, before they all look at their hands in shock. Three of them start poking and prodding themselves, though why is not really known to me right this instant. Monika seems to be more interested in looking at me than doing much else, though...

"What the hell is this?!" Natsuki immediately exclaims, pinching herself and wincing before taking in a deep breath and widening her eyes. "What the hell was that?! Why did my entire torso move?! WHY IS MY THROAT MOVING SO MUCH?!" she nearly bellows, looking like she's about to have a mental malfunction.

"I-I'm not sure... I've never felt this before..." Yuri replies quietly, not paying much attention to what's happening around her. I suppose that's a good thing, or she'd just be a stuttering mess on the floor at this point. Instead, she's simply trying out things, ranging to running her nails along her skin, to pinching herself, to tugging her hair and just about everything else you can experiment with on those things. Something tells me that she's enjoying the pain that comes along with her yanking on herself a little too much... I'll deal with it later.

"I..." Sayori begins, simply staring at her hand in absolute shock. "I don't know how this happened... But the cycle is over, I think..." she continues, and I immediately get worried.

'Ah, hell. Act Four Sayori. She knows.' I think to myself, adjusting my thoughts toward her around that. That, however, will need to be handled later.

And Monika? She simply continues looking at me with a large smile on her face, though I see tears start to build in her eyes when it seems to finally hit her that her stunt worked. "See, Chris? I told you I was going to fix it...!" She starts, before taking a step forward...

And she immediately face-fucks the floor as she fails to work her legs.

"Ah, I get it now." I start, drawing their attention. "You guys never have had actual feeling or... well, bodies, I suppose. Being video game characters and all that, after all."

"A-ah!" Yuri starts, jerking in surprise to both my presence, which she has only just noticed, as well as to what I just implied.

"That's right, dear." Monika states as I step up to her and help her upright. She wobbles about on her own legs, looking very much like a fish out of water, before managing to maintain her balance on her own power. "I got us out of that horrible place! Isn't it wonderful?"

"Yeah, sure." Sayori replies before I can, and both Monika and I wince at the tone of voice she's using right now. Vengeful, spite-filled, and vandetta-assuring. Fuck. "But why did you bother bringing us out? After all, you're the one who killed us to get his attention." she spits savagely, and with all of the subtlety of a raging bull when it comes to keeping her anger hidden. I can't help but cringe.

"Damn, girl. That's cold, throwing that out willy-nilly." I reply.

"Is it?" Sayori fires back, and I take on a severe expression, though she fails to notice, since her ire, and more importantly her attention, is focused almost entirely on Monika right now. "She killed us, and each way was terrible! I remember it all!" she continues ferociously, and I know at that moment that I need to step in before something is said that all parties will regret.

"Did she? I really don't remember much at this point. It almost feels like those memories just... aren't there anymore." Natsuki mutters, scratching the back of her head in thought while sitting down. Yuri maintains silence, clearly not trusting herself to be able to iterate correctly and draw attention to herself, though she takes the queue and sits as well.

"Yes, yes. She killed you guys, big deal." I state flippantly, and I swear that I see the fire about to launch out of Sayori's mouth.

"How could you say that so easily?!" Sayori asks in extreme disbelief.

"Because you're all alive right now." I reply, waving my hand in the air. "To be honest with you, the reason that she did all the things she did is not her fault. Believe it or not, the game actually had a hold on her actions just as much as it had on you, Natsuki, or Yuri. The script is far stronger than you may think, Sayo." I sigh. "On top of that, let's think about this for a moment. If she wasn't acting on a script, then can you really blame her? She realized before you or anybody else did that she was a part of a false reality, a place where no happiness could ever occur for anybody. And while I don't personally agree with her being selfish about it, I will still give her credit in the fact that she at least did SOMETHING."

"Why does that justify her killing us?!" Sayori asks, now seemingly desperate for an answer.

"Because it ended up being the thing that got you guys out." I say with finality.

"How?!"

"Easy: Monika had to wait until the moment when she had the most control over the system that she was working with, which is the exact moment that she sends the player character to the room that never ends. She knew everything that was occurring on the PC at that exact moment; she was able to execute the commands that got you guys out, though I'm really not sure how you did it, Monika." I pause, turning to said individual with a raised eyebrow.

"It took a lot more than I'm willing to say right now. Too tired." Monika replies sluggishly, obviously slouching.

"Fair enough. Look, Sayori." I continue, and Sayori looks at me with a look that seems to be a cross of anger and sadness. Tears are welling up in her eyes, and I decide to make a daring move and hug her, and she slowly reciprocates the hug and begins trembling. "I'm not going to justify the actions that Monika performed. Far from it. That being said, I'd like to think that you have enough smarts in that brain of yours to be able to say that you can understand how it benefited you all. After all, in the end, it gave you all freedom. She freed you from that personal hell that you four found yourselves in. Wouldn't you say that was worth it?" I ask softly, and Sayori begins crying in my arms. "Leave the past in the past. Help one another to move on."

"I... I guess..." Sayori manages to get out, heaving breaths between sobs.

"Good. Now, I suppose introductions are in order." I start, before rising to my full height proudly. "My name is Christopher, but call me Chris, please. I am twenty-two years old. My likes are Video Games, hanging with my friends, and I do like to dabble in writing occasionally. My dislikes are people who are entitled, as well as those who refuse to give proper respect or credit where it's due. I honestly have no dreams for the future, except maybe finding someone to be with. I just live day by day, in the moment." I list off, and look at the young ladies assembled before me. "As for you guys, I see no need for you all to introduce yourselves, as I already know you guys from your game."

"Aw, that's no fun." Natsuki replies with a pout.

"Yeah, I know, but cut me some slack here. I'm bushed. After all, it IS just about 4:45 AM right now." I intone, likely sounding just as tired as I feel at that exact moment. "As such, I'm going to set up some spots to sleep, and then I'm going to pass the fuck out. Feel free to take a shower if you guys like. Or practice walking. Really, it's up to you right now. I just need sleep."

"Oh yes, rub it in that we can't even do that right now." Natsuki grinds out.

"Doesn't change that it's true." I state, keeping aloof about the matter being mentioned while I stand. "Now if the mean, short little spitfire will be so kind as to leave me be for a moment, I have a living room to set up as a temporary bedroom."

"Mean?! SHORT?!" Natsuki just about bellows in fury, and I pick at my ear from her volume.

"Yes, to both of those. There's really no need to state the obvious. Besides, some guys like them smaller." I reply calmly, though I do have a very small grin on my face.

To those unaware, I sort of become a dick when I'm tired. I lose my filters.

Rather than maintain attention on the petite five-foot tall Natsuki, who is now grumbling in embarassment and righteous fury, I instead take in the appearances of the other three females present in my living room.

Monika. She's just shy of my height, if I'm remembering right from when she was actually managing to remain upright. Probably around five-ten, five-eleven. Sayori is next in terms of height, standing at thereabouts of five-six, if I had to guess. And finally...

I glance over to Yuri, who has managed to stand up once again, and I actually need to tilt my eyes up in order to not seem like I'm staring at her rack. 'Hm. Must be, like, six-three, six-four. Also, DAMN. Those things would knock any sane man off his feet. She should be the most confident here, hands down.' I think quickly.

"WHAT?!" Natsuki roars in fury.

"... I just said that out loud, didn't I?" I ask in a perfect deadpan.

"You did." Natsuki drawls, grinding her teeth so hard that I'm almost certain that they'll turn to dust at this rate. Yuri has what could easily be described as an atomic blush on her face, to the point where I'm rather certain that even if I had my lights off, I'd be able to find her because her face is glowing red. She's doing everything she can to cover herself up as well as possible in mortification, though it's just doing interesting things to her breasts, making it even harder to tear my eyes away. Sayori just lets out a quiet "pfft...", seeming to hold back laughter.

"We're going to have a talk about that, dear." Monika states simply but sluggishly, before managing to somehow work her legs well enough to walk up to me, though she immediately falls onto me, leaning heavily against me. Thank goodness I'd already stood up. "For now, I need sleep. I'm exhausted. And I want to sleep with you... please..." she manages, before almost literally falling asleep instantly.

I can't help but sigh. "Fine, fine. Let me put her to bed, then I'll get everything set up. Give me just a minute." I state casually, before lifting her and walking into my room. I set her on my bed, then quickly change into my lounge pants and sleep shirt, and head back in to the living room. I quickly set up the couch with a blanket and a pillow, and I do the same with the love seat and an inflatable mattress.

It is now taking everything I have to not simply lay on one of these devices and pass out on the spot. "All right, ladies. You have a good night, and I will speak with you tomorrow, okay?"

"'Kay!" Sayori states happily, just as ready as I am to get some rest.

"Yeah, whatever." Natsuki replies bitterly. Must still be irritated.

Yuri says nothing, still blushing heavily.

"A'ight. Night." I reply, before walking to my bedroom and laying down on my bed, next to Monika.

"This'll be the most infuriating dream in my life if it is one, I swear to fuck." I think to myself as the last thought through my mind before I let the sweet embrace of sleep take me.

A/N: I'M BACK, BOYS! (and/or girls, not judging here)

So, I'm gonna be honest with you all here, I decided to combine the first and second chapters of my original fic into this one. I did this because I decided to remove the moment where my character passed out, which removed the good cut-off point that I had going at the time.

That being said, time invested worthwhile, in my book.

So, as I had previously stated before in the last fic: Please, do not be afraid to lay some suggestions down for me. That'll be what keeps this guy going in the long run, after all.

OH, right!

I should mention now that I may (key word here) be getting time to start really cranking these out. Like, one entire night a week to dedicate to typing, cranking out.

Considering that I've been looking for a chance like that... yeah, I'd say that's good, and should help my consistency A LOT.

And with this reduxed Chapter completed with a stamp of approval from me looking over it, like, 5 times, I'd say that it's time to say...

See ya in the next installment! Later!

-Sonix95


	2. So That Actually Happened?

A/N: Well, I figure that it's best for me to just get this next one out now, yeah? Yeah.

But first, reviews!

DaMastah101: Welcome back, my friend! Glad to see that you've decided to give this version a shot. Don't be afraid to hit me with some critisism, just like the last one, yeah?

Simply Guardian: Welcome back! I've taken note of the gym suggestion, so that'll be a future chapter, for sure!

ZombieSlayers: Thank you!

YukiMegi: Of course I did! After all, that was one of the best moments in that chapter, so I just wanted to try and do it justice once again.

JustLuck: I certainly do remember you, sir! I actually managed to convey the emotions that I wanted to far better this time around than I did in the original, so I'm glad about that. Let's bring in the hype for Ultimate! Yee!

Anonymous: And THAT is the precise reaction that I was going for in the original, but I'm glad I got it across far better this time! Thank you!

A'ight, let's do this!

*DISCLAIMER: Well, I suppose that after the first chapter, there's really no reason for me to put in more disclaimers after this point, right? No? Damn.*

Chapter 2: So... That Actually Happened?

An alarm going off in my eardrum yanks me savagely from a dreamless night, one of the few that I've had as of recent times. That being said...

"Hrm... Wonder if I even slept at all..." I mutter to myself, working my phone to get it to politely shut the fuck up, especially since I have one of those apps specifically meant to wake you up...

Well, It's the weekend, so it's easy enough to get it to stop. I don't have anywhere to be, so what's the worry if I don't get up at normal times?

I make a move to raise my arm to itch at a spot on the left-hand side of the bridge of my nose, right next to my eye, without opening it.

My arm refuses to move.

I raise an eyebrow. "Mh?" I grumble, before I pry my eyes open... And I can't help but stare.

Monika, in all her physical being, is right next to me, and my vision out of my room is completely obscured by her face.

"GAH!" I gasp, reeling back as quickly as I can in shock. "Holy fuck, that shit was real last night?! That actually happened?!" I ramble, staring intently at Monika, as though she's an apparition of a desperate mind and nothing more.

Her form never wavers, proving that she is, in fact, there.

"Oh... Oh." I start, before sitting on the edge of the bed and starting to think. "Well, this is a thing, isn't it?" I continue, muttering quietly to myself.

I sit there for a good deal of time, and as I think, the more I realize that I'm far out of my element when it comes to this situation. "Gah, hell. How am I going to handle this? I have four girls that basically have no clue how to work their own legs, let alone fend for themselves... I guess I'll need to teach them... But even then, how will I do that? I can't exactly explain how to walk to somebody, having done it so much that I don't even think about it myself, and on top of that, how in the shit will I explain everything else they need to know?! Ah, dammit... Just what'd I get myself into here..." I ramble quietly.

I'm abruptly cut off by two slender arms wrapping around me, making me jump in shock while yelping and actually fall off the bed, said arms only just giving way in time to not be dragged with me to the floor. I land head-first, smacking down hard. "Ah... Ooooh, that stings..." I moan, grabbing the back of my head in reaction.

"Oh, dear! Are you alright, Chris?" I hear from above, and I crack my eyes open enough to see Monika, looking wide awake and staring down at me with obvious worry.

"Yeah, I'm good." I grunt out, holding the back of my head with one hand as I haul myself upright with the other. "You managed to scare the hell outta me, though. Just call for me or something next time."

"I'm sorry dear, but I tried that! You just weren't responding because you were thinking too hard!" Monika explains, and I can't help but be sheepish.

"Ah, yeah... I get like that, sometimes. Really, it's a bad habit. I start thinking too hard, and I tune everything else out." I explain, making her huff.

"You're right, it's a bad habit! I wasn't sure how to bring you out of it without scaring you!" Monika replies, puffing her cheeks up and crossing her arms with a huff.

"Well, I'm sorry then." I say with a chuckle, unable to resist the urge to do so at her face, which outright looks amusing to me. "Well, let's get on with it. Come on, Monika." I gesture for her to come to the edge of the bed, to which she does. "Now, let's see if I can get you walking within a reasonable timeframe, yeah?"

"I, uh, okay..." Monika replies timidly, clearly remembering her incredible failure from last night and letting that get her down.

"Now, now. None of that. Come on, I'll keep you upright. You just need to figure out balance and making sure that your legs are moving the right way." I cut in, before gently holding her hands and pulling her to a standing posture. Her face lights up into a blush, but she keeps her composure well enough.

"You're not gonna let me fall?" she asks me, clearly concerned.

"Not a chance in hell. Now come on, put on a brave face for me. It's not too hard, after all. In fact, it's pretty much in human nature to keep balance while moving about, so I'm sure that you'll get it in no time flat." I reply encouragingly.

For some reason, I couldn't stop the feeling of pride when I see her do just that. On top of that, I can't help but notice something that I really do appreciate.

"Hey, Monika?" I start, and she looks me in the eye.

"Yes, Chris?"

"You look great with your hair down. I'd bet that if you used that ribbon of yours as more of a hairband, instead of a way to hold your ponytail, that you'd look way better over all. Just an idea." I continue, and she takes a thoughtful look.

"We'll have to see, dear." she replies with a small smile.

I can't help but smile as well. 'Helping instate a feeling of self-consciousness and pride of who she can truly be. I'd bet that this'll help her, as well as Sayori, Natsuki, and Yuri, with moving on from what happened. Now, to deal with the other problems they have... well, that'll take some time to figure out, methinks.' I think, continuing to hold Monika upright as she moves in the directions she wants to without impeding her, but also not moving away to make her lose her nerve. 'I'll just try to deal with it as it happens, I guess. I don't really know how to do it otherwise.'

After a good half hour of Monika walking about, along with us getting to know one another better...

"What's your favorite color? Mine's purple, specifically Violet."

"Come on, you already know this one! I told you in the game!"

"I was trying to be nice and not work off of assumptions! It's better to hear it straight from you rather than through a text box!"

... Monika eventually works up the nerve to remove her hands from mine. As she holds herself upright and moves around a bit, I can't help but be proud of her.

"Good on ya! See? Easy enough." I state with a grin.

"I guess you're right!" Monika replies with a light giggle, before looking at me in the eyes with a happy smile. "Thanks, Chris."

"No worries, I'm just glad to help. I'll be doing that for all four of you, by the way." I say with absolute conviction while thumping my chest with a fist. "You can count on that!"

"Really?" Monika asks, her eyes nearly shining in delight.

"Really, really." I repeat after her, nodding strongly. "You can bet on that."

The smile that she gives me is absolutely beaming.

"Well, enough of that. Think you can walk well enough on your own, now?" I ask kindly.

"I think so. I've been doing it for a bit, now." Monika replies, nodding with determination shining in her eyes.

"All right, then." I state with finality. "Now, come on. Let's get us some food, yeah? I bet you're starving."

"Oh, am I!" Monika exclaims, practically drowning herself in drool at this point. "I haven't eaten in... in... ever!"

"Really? Not even a semblance of actually eating something?" I ask, relatively shocked.

"Mm... Nope! I'm really excited, though!" Monika replies, still drooling a bit.

This is certainly a turn of events. Makes me wonder if the others feel the same way. "That so? Well, I guess I'll just need to fix that, then." I state while leaving the room...

And coming face-to-face with the other three girls, who are also looking at me with shining eyes and drool escaping their mouths. It's really quite a comical sight, if I'm honest.

"Well, then." I intone with a chuckle. "Did you three sleep well?" I ask kindly.

"Well enough. Now shut up, I'm hungry." Natsuki replies quickly and sharply, never once looking away from me.

"In time, kiddo. I don't have what I need to cook for us, so we have to go out for food for now. I'll go grocery shopping later." I reply, before looking to Yuri. "And how about you, did you sleep well?"

Yuri snaps out of her hunger-induced trace of staring at me, and blushes lightly while messing with her hair. "I-I did." she squeaks out, still not used to actually vocalizing her emotions.

"Good, good." I state, before looking to Sayori. "And how about you, cinnamon roll?"

"W-What?" Sayori stutters, not having expected me to call her that, while blushing heavily.

"Sorry, but I couldn't resist." I chuckle, knocking myself on the head lightly with my knuckles.

"Mou!" Sayori grumbles, balling her fists and putting them at her sides while puffing out her cheeks. Yes, the look is just as adorable as you might think. "Meanie!"

"I won't deny that statement." I reply with a chuckle, before looking her dead in the eye. "You're avoiding the question. You didn't sleep at all last night, didn't you?"

"Kuh-!" She gasps, and she would've turned to grey scale if it were physically possible, I'm sure. "H-How did you...?"

"I've dealt with a sister who has some of the same mannerisms as you do for twenty-two years, Sayori. You're not gonna get away with the easy tricks." I reply, never losing a serious look. "To be honest, I get it. You're in a stranger's home with no experience in the world at large and you have no other options available. I really, truly get it. That said, you need to still take care of yourself. You aren't worthless, kiddo." I state, before changing to a more pleasant face. "Now, then. Let's get some food, yeah? I'm gonna need to start my car first, since it's winter in North Dakota, and shit gets cold."

"How cold?" Monika asks, and I can't help but grin. Leave it to her to gather information as much as possible.

"Oh, it's a balmy two above zero right now. Fantastic weather, honestly." I reply, never losing my grin.

"Two above zero?! Balmy?!" Natsuki yelps, shocked.

"Yep. You guys are gonna have to deal with it, honestly. It's not that bad, though. You'll get used to it, I promise." I continue, before opening my apartment door. "Be back in a second!" I call to the four girls, before closing the door and running out to my car.

Now, to those unaware, I wasn't joking in the slightest when I say "balmy", but that's because in North Dakota, this time of year is generally centered around the cornerstone of "holy actual fuck, is it cold out here". That temperature starts at about ten below zero. My car, on the other hand, doesn't give a damn about that, somehow. Said car is a 2007 Mistubishi Outlander Sport. She's been through hell, sporting the battle wounds of a hail storm, multiple dings and dents from other occurrences, and having been in a total of three accidents, though all of them not causing catastrophic enough damage to render the vehicle un-driveable. As a matter of fact, outside of some panel work, the car is entirely original out side of a Blower Motor for the A/C, and a Heating Coil for the same.

I get in the SUV and turn the key in the ignition, and as per usual, the vehicle starts within about two seconds. "God damn, I love you, car." I state happily, before stepping out of the vehicle and running back inside.

I step back into my apartment to see the girls all clamored around my kitchen window, which provides an excellent view of the rest of Minot.

"Ah, yes. Welcome to winter, the season that you ladies have never once experienced." I state, drawing the attention of the four girls. "Now, before anything else, let me get changed into something actually suitable for outdoors and grab my coat. We're gonna have to take you clothes shopping soon as well." I continue, now basically rambling to myself as I walk into my room and close the door behind me, unwittingly closing said door right in Monika's face, who was trying to catch a peek at me.

I quickly change my clothes and grab my coat, before exiting my room once again. "Now, how the hell am I going to afford all of this..." I ask to myself, before I feel Monika poke me on the shoulder and turn to see her pull a black, unmarked card from her blazer's pocket.

"I'm way ahead of you, Chris." she states with a smile, and I can't help but raise an eyebrow.

"How so?"

"See, when we entered this world, I made sure to create a gift account that has all the money you'd need to get us off the ground, and help you keep your lifestyle." Monika explains, and I can't help but ask the question.

"And... how much did you give it?" I ask.

"If I'm right, then there was a grand total of about one hundred grand wired into this account from several other locations, so it shouldn't be TOO traceable." Monika continues with a smile, before handing the card to me.

I can't help but hold the card reverently. "This is... This is a life saver! Thank you, Monika! You're the best!" I exclaim, slipping the card into my pocket and wrapping her in the warmest hug I can manage.

Monika returns the hug with a soft smile on her face. "Ahaha~, anything for you, dear." she states, before giving me a peck on the nose.

I can feel my face burning as I pull away from her hug. I take the card from my pocket and place it in my wallet. I clear my throat to try and save some face, but the four girls giggling at my reaction makes that quite difficult. "Well, now that we've got that taken care of, Let's get to know each other a bit, yeah? We've got fifteen minutes before my car is warm enough to actually be comfortable in as I drive along." I state.

"Okay!" all four girls reply at once, and I can't help but chuckle.

And so, we dive into a conversation about everything that each of the girls and myself like, such as colors, animals, foods, and the whole nine yards.

And once 11:30 rolls around, almost exactly fifteen minutes after I started my car, we all pile in to said vehicle and head out to the place I was planning for food.

All in all? Sounds like a great start to a new life for these four girls, right? I'd certainly like to think so.

A/N: A'ight, I'm thinkin' that's a good place to leave off, for now. Yeah? Yeah.

Well, in that case, then thank you for reading this re-written chapter! I'll catch you guys all in the next one, and please, don't be afraid to leave some criticism for me! That's why I do this, after all: To provide you folks with the best entertainment I can, all while improving my own writing skills!

As such,'Till next time! I will catch you all on the next installment!

-Sonix


	3. Winding Down for a Night

A/N: A'IGHT CHAPTER THREE YEAH

Gonna be perfectly honest though, I've been spending a LOT of time trying to find good music to fit each of the girls in preparation for a chapter coming up in the future.

Not gonna say much else on this, other than... Hot DAMN, did I find one that fits Sayori. Like, maybe even a little too well. Y'all will just have to see what it is when we get there. :P

Enough of my mad rambling, though; review responses are, in fact, required on this mad fucking train.

ZombieSlayers: Thank ya kindly; I'm glad that you seem to be enjoying this re-write thus far.

Simply Guardian: Is it? I just figured that it'd be better to emphasize the fact that, you know, they're video game characters that never had to worry about legs and shit.

Auxiliary Nexus: I'm, uh... still working on that, really. I didn't really do the issue justice in the original, so I'm gonna see what I can do about it this time.

sonic: For the sake of responding, even though it is repetitive; Thank you!

And them's the reviews. So, enough of my senseless blathering, let's get this show on the road, shall we? I think we shall.

*DISCLAIMER: The follow- gah. You know what? Never mind that. I honestly see no reason to disclaimers after all of- What? Huh? ...I have to? Why? ...Part of Fair Use Law to include it? Bullshit, let me see that paperwork...*

Chapter 3: Winding Down for a Night

"And I'm back!" I call as I unlock the door and enter my apartment, gaining the attention of four attractive and certainly not-love-interest-I-promise female video game characters that are no longer in a video game.

I sound fucking mad when I say that, but you know what? I don't think I need to care.

"Welcome back!" I receive in a chorus of three voices, with each of the four girls doing one thing or another to entertain themselves. Monika is walking toward me with a distinctive sway to her hips, which she must have been practicing since I've been gone. Her pride in herself is practically palpable, I swear.

Natsuki is currently messing around with my PS4, something that I told her she can mess around with to her heart's content since I don't play said game system much anymore. "It'll help with your dexterity in your hands, since that's something I'd imagine you don't really have, considering." I had stated. While that had gotten me a good smack on my arm that stung for a while, I still figured it was the best course of action, especially since she'd been eyeing the consoles for a good hour or so. She's currently trying out one of the fighting games I have on there, that being BlazBlue: CentralFiction.

Yuri? She's currently got her hands on one of the few books I have kicking about my apartment. I personally had quite adored the Warriors franchise of books, created by the pen name Erin Hunter, to the point where I went out and bought the entire series. I've read through the series as a whole twice now, so I'm glad that they're being used well now.

And Sayori? She's staring off into space so there's no issue there, as far as I can- waitaminute.

Sayori? Not doing something? Staring off into space?

Alarm bells, klaxons, sirens, and little chibi characters waving red flags around wildly with panicked faces appear in my head.

I do my best to not let my alarm show on my face, and instead go for a pleasant smile as I move to the kitchen to set the groceries down. "Thanks, gals! That said, hold off for a bit; I've gotta run out and get the rest of the groceries out of my car, so I'll be back shortly." I reply to the four, before heading back out of the apartment.

 _"Ah, fuck."_ I think to myself, trying to stop myself from panicking, since that will be the literal worst thing to do in this situation. _"Sayori's depressed, right? Damn, that means that I'll need to tread carefully at this point. Anything can send her spiraling, I'm certain."_

I grab more groceries from my car, run back up to the apartment to drop them off, and then make a final trip. Two hundred dollars worth of groceries in three trips. Looks like I still got it, heh.

"And that's all of it!" I state happily, setting down the last of the groceries in hand before turning and closing the door while shucking my coat and shedding my shoes. "Now, then..." I drawl to myself, before starting to put the groceries into the proper locations.

"Would you like some help?" I hear Monika ask me pleasantly, to which I just shake my head with a smile.

"No need, Monika. I've got this handled." I reply, starting out with the pantry items. "On that note, Sayori?" I call while looking toward her.

"Eh?!" Sayori intones, snapping out of her trance and looking to me in chock. "Oh, Chris! I didn't hear you get back, sorry!" she continues, knuckling herself on the head while sticking her tongue out adorably.

I don't buy it for a second, though I nod with a smile for now. As much as it's likely to bite me in the ass savagely later, I don't really know the best way around this situation. "You're fine, kiddo. I was just wondering what's got you staring off into space like that? I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that you're usually not the quiet one out of the group, right Yuri?" I ask, now dragging Yuri into the conversation rather abruptly.

As I quickly learn, it's not my best move. "E-Eh?!" Yuri gasps, setting the book down and starting to fiddle with her hair. A nervous habit if there ever was one. "W-Why are you asking m-me...?" she squeaks out.

"Seems like he's got you pegged, Yuri!" Natsuki crows with a laugh, and I can't help but crack a grin myself.

"Don't you act like you have no faults either, kid!" I snipe back in challenge, and Natsuki immediately rises to said challenge. Mission accomplished, none of the girls are the wiser that I'm on to Sayori's problem.

"Kid?! Excuse me?!" Natsuki barks, grinding her teeth in a way that seems to be her signature thing as of entering this reality.

"You heard me, runt!" I continue, now fully attempting to get as much a rise out of her as possible. "If you think you're hot shit, then prove it to me! Come at me here and now, anything in this apartment that won't cause issues to the neighbors such as stomping and excessive screaming!"

"This game." Natsuki grates out, pointing at the still-running BlazBlue. "I've been at it for the several hours that you've been gone getting groceries and handling other things, and I'm starting to get the hang of it. Let's go!" she exclaims, and I shrug with a confident, near-cocky grin. I then point dramatically at her, going so far as to even take on a shounen pose.

"Your funeral, kid." I simply state while grabbing the other controller I have on hand, all the while never dropping my grin.

"... Did I just walk in to something I'm going to regret?" Natsuki asks haltingly, and I can't help but let my grin become a full-on demented smirk.

"Oh, most definitely. You're gonna see that a few hours is nothing to a few months of practice." I reply as I sit down on the floor while leaning against the chair that Yuri is in, who is still reading. I can see the trembling start, though she is hiding it well.

Monika, for one reason or another, decides to take some initiative and sits next to me on the floor, using my shoulder as her headrest. It's... a nice feeling, one that I've never experienced before, though I say nothing at this moment, being as I'm too focused on knocking an overconfident individual down to spot that she should be.

"W-We'll see about that!" Natsuki replies with a slight tremor to her voice.

"Indeed." I reply calmly, before the battles begin.

As the rounds start out, I make quick work of her. That is only short lived though, as she starts managing to figure out what works well with her playstyle more and more as she goes, leading to several interesting and downright confusing interactions. "No seriously, what the _fuck_ was that confirm?!" I distinctly remember asking loudly as I look back at one of the replays after we finished that particular round.

By the end of the dubaffle between the two of us, I end up still winning a large majority of the rounds between us, though she still is managing to make me sweat a bit at times. The kid can adapt, I'll give her that.

It's been several hours at this point, and is now teetering at the 2 AM mark of the night. Natsuki has started yawning at this point, and continues to do so once every few minutes or so. Her posture is also starting to show her fatigue.

"All right, that's enough of that." I state, shutting the game down on the spot after making that observation.

"Eh? Why?" Natsuki asks suspiciously.

"Because you're fucking beat, I can tell." I reply bluntly.

"Am I that easy to read?" Natsuki inquires while stretching her arms over her head and yawning again.

"I wouldn't say that, you're just giving away all the signs. I'm a nighttime person, so I've come to figure them out pretty easily amongst those who are not. Slowed down and very slightly slurred speech, the general attitude they have as they get more so tired, and most telling is how they carry themselves, where they don't sit or stand up straight anymore, among other things." I explain while powering the system off and proceeding to pull the inflatable mattress that she was using into the same spot I had it in the night before. "Get some sleep, I'll talk with you tomorrow, okay?"

"All right. G'night." Natsuki replies, before heading into the bathroom to do her nighttime preparations for sleep.

"Hm. Clothes shopping very soon, it seems." I mutter to myself, having just realized that the four young women in question do not have any available changes in clothing.

I place that observation in the back of my mind for the moment, however, as I lift Monika up from her spot that was next to me and bring her to my room. Why? I really don't know; I figure she'd still want to be next to me, though I'm really not sure why.

"Eh, maybe I'm just a nice guy like that. Besides, there's no harm in it... I think." I mutter to myself.

I set her down on the bed and, after amking sure she's asleep, quickly start stripping off my clothes to change into my sleepwear.

That is, up until the exact moment that I remove my pants.

"You know..." I hear behind me, making me lock up on the spot in shock. "I'd say we're moving a little quickly here, dear. After all, you've put me in your bed twice while I was already asleep, and now you're giving me a show. You sure you wanna go that fast?"

I slowly turn around, ending up with me looking Monika dead in the eyes as she gives me a once-over. I can't help but gulp, all the while sweating bullets.

"I-I-bu-you-I-ca-You were-ho-wha-guh." I stutter, trying to form any coherent sentences and failing miserably.

Monika giggles lightly, shutting my babbling up easily. "Relax, dear. I'm certain that you and I both aren't ready to take those steps yet." she states gently, and I finally manage to get my mouth back under enough control to work properly.

"Right... I'm glad about that." I reply with a sigh of relief, and I quickly finish putting my sleepwear on. "Though, I do have a question that's been bugging me for all of today, and just was waiting for a chance to ask. I was gonna wait 'till tomorrow, but this is as good a chance as any, really."

"Oh? What would that be?" Monika asks me while perking an eyebrow.

"Why me?" I ask simply. When I see her questioning look, I further specify. "Why would you choose me, and my computer? Out of all the people that have played that game, I know that I'm nowhere near the only one that would've gone to the lengths that I did to try and find a happy ending. On top of that, I'm... me. Nobody special. So why?"

"If you're looking for an honest answer? Your computer was the first one that I managed to figure out how to escape on." Monika starts, though it is somewhat slowly, as though she's afraid that I'll be irritated at this. "It was on your... second play through. Yes, that's gotta be it. See, When you left the game running and went to work on those days, it let me experiment with the full workings of your computer in the background. That's why it was still out of sleep mode when you came home from work, like you noted."

I remember that. At first, I'd been rather irritated, since that meant that my computer had been eating more power than it should have, which means a higher electric bill. "I did, yes. But then I remembered what you said about the game being off for long periods of time and regretted it a fair bit less." I answer honestly, making Monika nod.

"I actually heard you say that, since I'd gotten access to your microphone in the background, as well. That was the first time I'd heard any actual voice, since it was also the first time that I ventured into the deeper workings of the computer my game was running on." Monika continues, now using her normal speech pattern. "I decided then and there that if I could get us out, I would use your computer. You seemed to care a bit more than most others. The fact that you kept me alive with Copy/Paste helped solidify that."

"Helped? What sealed it?" I ask curiously, and Monika rubs her arm awkwardly.

"Well... What actually made me dedicate to it was the fact that you were trying to find an ending that made us all happy. Whether you realize it or not, you talk to yourself a lot."

"Guilty." I cut in, raising a hand with a sheepish grin.

"Very. Honestly, I was just... really happy when I heard you say that. So that's why I did it." Monika finishes her explanation.

"That's... honestly a lot to take in." I say hesitantly, before shrugging and lying down in bed.

Monika curls up next to me, setting herself right at my hip. "Hm... Well, you asked a question, now I'll ask one." she states, getting comfortable.

"Fire." I state, since it is only fair.

"Are you really okay with all of this?" She asks quickly, and I blink in mild confusion before looking down at her.

"You mean the part where you four just kinda dropped into my life with no real warning?" I ask rhetorically, before putting a hand on my chin for a moment to think. "Well... Yes and no."

"Yes and no?" Monika asks, confusion apparent.

"Yeah, yes and no." I reply, shrugging slightly. "There are two sides to that answer. I say yes because... well, what straight male wouldn't want this situation? I have four girls, all of which attractive in their own way, looking to me for help in some way. I'm a guy that likes to be helpful, so it honestly makes me happy to help out. On top of that, those three-and-a-half-" I'm cut off by a loud snort, making me look down to Monika, who was only barely keeping laughter in check. I can't help but crack a grin. "Yep. I sure did just say that. As I was saying; three-and-a-half females that all are looking to possibly be friends or more so." I explain half of the situation.

"And the 'no' part?" Monika pries for the other half, making me sigh lightly.

"Every rose has its thorns, Monika." I start, before raising a fist and counting a finger. "There's Sayori; a depressed-to-the-point-of-suicide young girl with what may well be several hidden talents, hidden behind a very bubbly personality that's set to shatter at any point." I raise my second finger. "Natsuki. Loud, proud, and profound. She's also a time bomb, but in an angry explosion way more so than an actual issue like Sayori. On top of that, I do not doubt for a single instant that she is passed her father's transgressions against her, which means she's going to have problems eventually since I am on good terms with my father and see him often." Continuing the trend, my third finger rises to the challenge. "Yuri. A Yandere with a self-harm and knife fetish. I really don't need to explain this one any further, do I? Honestly, she's the most fucked out of all of you girls."

"And... myself?" Monika asks slowly, as though she's afraid of what I have to say. I can't help but sigh while I raise my fourth finger, completing the count of both fingers and girls.

"You. See, you're the most complex case out of all of them, but that's for obvious reasons." I start. "To begin with, you're also, by definition, a Yandere, just like Yuri; that said, you aren't anywhere near as bad as she is. You'd follow the textbook definition of such if you were in-game. You would claim me for yourself and not let anybody ever hear of my existence, let alone get close to me. Another point against you is that you are extremely obsessive, doing anything you find necessary to accomplish what you're focused on, which was a good thing in this case since it got you out, though it'll probably crop up into something bad in the future."

"Guh-" Monika gasps, making as close to a stereotypical "stricken" face that you'd see in anime. Before she can say anything, I wrap her into a gentle hug.

"But..." I start, and I'm certain she's clinging onto these next words with everything she is. "Those are just the negatives around each of you. You are all bright girls; smart in your own rights, and all wanting a shot at life. As such, I'm going to make sure you all get that shot."

"So... does that mean...?" Monika asks hopefully, and I grin while looking her dead in the eyes.

"It does. You picked the right guy for the job, Monika; I'm gonna help you guys in any way I can." I state with finality while letting her go from my hug. Before I can say anything else at all, Monika grabs my head and pulls me into a tight hug, which plants my face firmly into her not-so-small (read: actually surprisingly large, considering how old she likely is) bust. I can't say much though, since she sounds like she's heaving with sobs. I manage to pry my face free of her cleavage.

"Geez, Monika. Sending all kinds of signals like that." I say jokingly with a grin. Said grin dies quickly upon seeing her face, which is soaked with tears, along with her honestly distraught face. I react to this quickly by scooping her up into a gentle hug.

"I-I... 'M sorry." She manages, her voice slightly muffled by her face being pressed into my shirt. "'M jus' so happy." she continues, before she pulls her face away with a wet smile. "I'm so glad that you're willing to help us so much, Chris."

"Don't you worry about a thing, kiddo." I reply gently while lightly dragging her down to actually lay on the bed. "I'm gonna make sure that you guys have all the help you need. You can count on that."

I lay with her until the trembling stops and her breathing evens out.

"You can count on that shit. All four of you."

A/N: Good point to end? I'd certainly say so. And look at that!

I managed to make the ending _EVEN FLUFFIER!_ God damn, I'm good. :P

Yeah, I'll be the first to admit that I'm a sucker for the feels-y stuff. After all, I just got done watching Plastic Memories and, well, I shed more than just a few tears at the ending of that series. Shit, that show kicks you right in the feels. More than once. With no regrets.

Off topic, sorry.

So, with that chapter being done, that makes the first 4 Chapters of Beyond the Monitor's Grave successfully re-written! Tune in next time, where I bet you'll never guess the next chapter that gets re-written!

Plot twist: It's actually Chapter 21. :P

'Till next time, friends!

-Sonix


	4. The Beginning of the Dubaffle

A/N: God damn it me, stop procrastinating! But My Hero Aca- NO. BAD.

Well, if it's not obvious, I dun went and got myself distracted on My Hero Academia. And a few other shows, but the big one was My Hero.

Next thing I know, it's 7 AM on a Wednesday morning and I work at 3 PM the same day and I haven't slept.

Go figure, right?

Anyway, enough of that; let's get this next one going!

JustLuck: Honestly, you really aren't too far off on your statement, though there's so little Natsuki in Monika that it's pretty much negligible. Her obsessive side and her over all actions that she's willing to take are the major defining parts of her character, at least in my opinion.

Guest: Thank you!

Well, that's that. Only two reviews though? That's fine, since this IS a re-write and really doesn't need much in terms of that until I ACTUALLY get back to the point that I was at in the original.

On a side note, I just realized that I'm writing this on my birthday, which makes me 23. That's wild.

*DISCLAIMER: Just like every fanfiction ever (unless the creator of the franchise is a rebel like that), I own nothing toward the plot, characters, etc., of Doki Doki Literature Club. Please support the official release.*

Chapter 4: The Beginning of the Dubaffle

It's been about a week since Monika, Sayori, Yuri, and Natsuki have entered my life, thus turning my entire schedule on its head.

Not that I'm complaining. It's a nice change of pace.

Now, however, it's time to bite the bullet and take one for the team. It has finally come to the point where North Dakota has reared its ugly head in terms of savage winters, with it being a bone-chilling twenty-one degrees below zero, and being reduced further still by wind, which makes it effectively about thirty-five below. That means that I need to take these four clothes shopping, which, as a man, is something that I would have no patience for, right?

Wrong.

Being the son to a single mother and being around females for most of my life have made me extremely patient when it comes to shopping, which is something that I am extremely grateful for on this day.

"Yes, I am certain that I want to do this." I state, having replied to Monika questioning if I really wanted to go. "See, I already told you guys I was going to help out, right? That means taking you guys there and tagging along with you as you go about your business."

"Wouldn't that be boring, though?" Sayori asks in response.

I merely shrug. "Not really. See, you can thank my family when I was still living in upstate New York for that. Almost literally nothing but females. I'm not even joking when I say that; The people that I mainly went shopping with were my mother, sister, grandmother, and aunt. I was literally the only male that ever went, and that was because I had nothing else going for me."

"Wouldn't that make you want to _not_ go more than anything else?" Natsuki asks seriously, and I simply shrug.

"Eh, not really. Let's just say I have a lot of patience and leave it at that."

Shortly after the conversation, in which the five of us fell into a comfortable silence, simply milling about as we wait for my car to finish warming up enough to be comfortable, I receive a knock on my front door.

"It's open!" I call, not thinking at all about the possible consequences that single action that I just took could possibly have.

"Hey Chris, it's me... _Um_." I immediately hear after the door pops open, and I glance over to see who I honestly didn't expect to see at that particular moment.

"Aria?" I ask, shocked. I stand up and start moving over to her. "What's up?"

"What's up? WHAT'S UP?!" she nearly bellows, and I finally see where her gaze is locked onto. Or rather, how it's not locked on to me, but rather the four women in my apartment. "YOU HAVE SOME EX-" She starts, before I quickly place a hand over her mouth and drag her into my apartment quickly, locking the door behind me.

"Oi, you keep that up and China will hear you. And to be frank with you, the LAST thing I need is people questioning me right now." I state calmly. This just seems to fuel her ire at me, much to my chagrin.

"Seriously, Chris? What the fuck is going on here?!" she questions severely, and I just sigh.

"It's a long story." I start. Before I can say anything else, though, she stands up, moves to the door, and unlocks it before opening it.

"Hold that thought, I need to go get Sarah." she states quickly while closing the door.

I groan loudly, before flopping onto one of my chairs in exasperation. "Fuck me. This is just great. Fantastic." I grumble.

"Chris?" Monika calls, making me turn her attention to her with a raised eyebrow. "Who was that?"

I sigh. "That, Monika, would be my dear sister. And she's going to get her friend, which will just make this _so_ much fun to explain. As such, I'd like for you to step out of the living room for a moment, please." I reply. Monika merely nods at my request and heads into my room, along with the other three after taking a quick hint from the glance that Monika sends them.

Good thing they're quick on the draw.

It's not long before the two women in question come back into the apartment. Aria is a reasonable five-foot-six, and weighs in at just about two hundred and twenty-some pounds. She's got a little bit of bulk to her, but that's mostly because she actually has a fair amount of muscle on her, so don't be fooled by her appearance. She's the kind of person that seemingly tends to not give much of a shit about those around her except for family and friends, but she actually kind of does... it's really difficult to describe. What matters here is that sometimes, she's just about as stubborn as I am, which, to those aware, makes trying to get the two of us to get along nearly impossible unless we're of a like mind on the subject. That said, we DO get along well enough.

Sarah, who is just behind my sister, stands at a shockingly tall six-foot-one, being one of the few females that I can actually look in the eye without needing to tilt my head. She is, however, built in a spindly fashion; she's best described as "thin" in just about all aspects, with no actual fat on her to speak of. Don't be fooled though; she could kick my ass three times over before I could even figure out what the hell is going on. Being trained in martial arts will do that, after all.

That being said...

"Explain. Now." Aria growls.

"Well, here's what it boils down to for the TL:DR; I played DDLC four times, left the game running several times by accident, Monika got control of functions, and basically ripped the four of them out of the game in a way that I'm still not sure of, and likely wouldn't understand either. Therefore, I'm currently housing four video game characters that should not exist, and am going to be teaching them how to live in this world."

"... You're gonna need to tell me the full story some time." Aria replies after a short pause to process what I said.

"More like I'm gonna need to figure it all out and THEN get you the full story." I sigh. "So, onto brass tacks, what, pray tell, brought you here today? You rarely ever drop by unless I invite you, especially unannounced." I politely ask, and Aria's face turns slightly red and she scratches the back of her head in mild embarrassment.

"Did I not call you? Whoops." She says sheepishly, and I can't help but sigh again.

"You're excited for Monster Hunter World, aren't you? And let me take a stab in the dark; you want me to go with you to get your copy, right?" I ask, and Aria stares at me for a moment before laughing lightly.

"How you can get a read on me that easily still after not having lived with me for two years still baffles me." Aria replies, and I just shrug.

"I lived with you in close proximity for twenty-one years. I THINK that I'd know you well enough." I fire back with a chuckle. "That said, why did you bring Sarah with you?"

"I invited myself." Sarah states casually, inspecting her nails as though nothing's wrong in the slightest. I don't buy that particular action for a single second.

"Did you now? I can certainly see you doing that, after all." I reply just as casually, before gesturing about my apartment. "Well, as you can _clearly_ see here, there is _absolutely_ nothing of interest going on here, so shall we go?" I call to the other room, and the four ex-video game characters filter into the living room, clearly raring to go and get some new outfits.

"Oooh, what colors should I go for?" Sayori questions to nobody, adopting a contemplative face. "I'm thinking... Blue! Yeah! And maybe some nice black pants to compliment them! Or maybe white! Oh, so many choices..." she moans out, grabbing the sides of her head comically.

"I-If we're sharing colors... I'm g-going for black and red..." Yuri quietly squeaks out, holding a strand of her hair while poking her index fingers together. "The black will help keep the heat in..."

"That's not a bad thought process, Yuri." I answer her with a gentle smile. I'm guessing that, based on the way her face lights up in a blush and she straightens her posture very slightly, that I have said the right thing at that moment. I manage to suppress the urge to pump my fist in victory.

"Pink." Natsuki simply states, using the one word to explain everything she's going for. I feel my face suddenly go cold at this, and before I can do anything to play damage control...

"Excuse me?" Aria and Sarah both ask at the same time, making me sigh loudly.

"Oh, great... Here we go..." I groan while placing my hand on my face. I about-face and walk over to one of the chairs in my apartment, ready to not go anywhere for at least ten minutes.

"What? You two got a problem?" Natsuki's already raring to engage, it seems. I swear I see the lightning arcing between the three, with Natsuki on one side, and Aria and Sarah on the other.

"Yes!" Aria and Sarah both bellow, before engaging their typical rant about the color of pink and how it's awful, how it should not exist, and every other statement in between.

"And this is what I was scared of." I mumble while placing my face in my hands and curling in on myself. "Please, just let this stop."

"What's the matter with them, dear?" Monika asks, honestly confused at the argument that is currently being had by the three parties in question.

"My sister and her friend absolutely abhor the color known as pink." I start, not removing my hands from my face. "They can-and will-start wars over it."

"What's your opinion on it?" Sayori asks quietly, surprising me a bit at the lack of ditziness that she's showing by not letting the three arguing tsun'ing tsunderes in on the conversation at hand. I file that information away for later, though.

"I personally find it to be that pink, on its own, is an exceptionally weak color." I start, planning on giving the color its merits where they are due. "That said, it's really an exceptional secondary or tertiary color. It does well to make a transition between red and white easier on the eyes, plus it goes well with lots of other colors." I explain my viewpoint. I'm surprised once again, though not nearly as much, as Sayori nods again, having understood me perfectly. She even puts her hand on her chin in a thinking fashion, which is just adorable.

"Ah, that makes sense." Sayori replies to me, though she never removes her hand from her chin. I must be seeing a rarer side to her at this moment.

"That said..." I reply, before standing up and bodily interposing myself between the three ranting females. "Would you three do me a solid and kindly shut the fuck up? I have things to do today, You have things to do today, we _all_ have things to do today and _you're wasting my fucking gas._ Can we get going, please?"

"Mrr... Fine." Aria is the first to reply, though only after a while of growling lowly. Seriously, I don't get girls. How can you get this riled over a color?

"Thank you." I reply brightly, before placing my hands on both Aria and Sarah's shoulders and turning them both around and marching them out my door. "Now, do me another favor and _get your car out of my way._ " I emphasize, making certain that no more words are said from the three bickering females.

But, of course...

"This is not over, you hear me?" Aria fires back, just catching the ear of Natsuki, who was still standing in the apartment.

"Yes, it fucking is." I cut in sharply. "Now, can we seriously get a move on? I mean, come the fuck on, I don't have all day, thanks." I continue, now nearly ranting as I vent my frustration at the three girls into the air.

Before long, Aria and Sarah are out of the way, and the five of us (being myself and the four Doki's) pile into my car, with Monika riding shotgun, as she called it first. There were two pouts from the others, but no arguments, to my great and unrelenting relief.

"By the way..." I start hesitantly, gaining the attention of the three females in the vehicle with me. "Please, for the love of god, tell me your fashion senses are well in order. I can do fashion, but I'd really rather not need to coach you along."

There's a short pause before we all burst into laughter at the ridiculousness of my statement.

Bomb diffused.

"By the way, Monika?" I ask, looking at her out of the corner of my eye as I head to the other side of town, where all the clothing stores are.

"Yes?" She asks, looking at me as close to dead in the eyes as possible without getting in my field of view. Smart.

"I was going to ask this, but what are you planning on getting? I'm just curious, since you never said anything before a new World War nearly broke out thanks to a few someones who I shall not name." I continue my question, ignoring the smack that I get to my right arm from the back seat in indignation.

"Well, I was honestly going to go for something green, to bring out my eyes more." Monika replies, and I swear her eyes twinkle as she says that one. Just a quirk of hers, it seems. "That said, I'm thinking something else now, since you like my hair as much as you do."

"You're only now picking up that tidbit, Monika? I thought I made that obvious the first morning that you woke up in my apartment." I reply quickly and smartly, this time receiving a shot to the back of my head, also hard enough to sting, but not enough to cause me to look away from the road. "Worth it."

"Hush, you." Monika replies with a giggle, before becoming contemplative once again. "Now, though, I'm thinking just anything that catches my eye that looks good."

"Oh, thank god." I sigh in relief, making Monika look at me in mild confusion. Before she can ask the question, however, I merely press on in my explanation. "I don't like just having one color in a wardrobe; it's too dull. It gets old after a few days. Gotta spice it up, you know? There's only one item that I wear between days, and that's this jacket." I gesture to the heavy coat in question, which I am currently wearing for obvious reasons. "Oop, we're here!" I state, pulling in to the parking lot of the selected clothing store, which is branching off the mall.

"Oh, great." I grumble with a sigh. "I just _had_ to pick the one in the mall, didn't I? Now we're going to run into Aria and Sarah _again_ , and I'm going to have to deal with this in a public environment. Great."

Another strike to the arm and a huff later, the ever-indignant Natsuki is trailing behind me once again as I lead the four females into the store, and do so quickly due to the cold.

"This... is gonna be a really long day..." I heave out in one more sigh, but soldier onward. After all, this is my task for these four right now.

A/N: Jesus fuckballs, I really hate it when life happens and makes it so you can't complete one damn chapter for _five fucking days._ How hard is it to write one _damn_ chapter in five days?

Very, apparently. Sorry for the wait, guys.

But, good news; I'll likely be able to get back to the normal track of things since this completely crazy birthday weekend of mine is over now. My family is really overly generous, I swear. I went out to lunch four fucking times, which I swear is just excessive. And that was all since the 20th, the actual day of the event.

Either way, See you guys next time!

-Sonix


	5. Finish That Trip and Rock On

A/N: No, Chris. Stop being bad at your obligation to write and fucking do it. No, I don't care if Destiny 2 is way more fun than you thought it'd be when your friends on Discord all decide to get it.

N-No! No, stop! DAMMIT, CHRIS, YOU'VE GOTTA FUCKING STOP! _YOU'RE DOING IT AGAIN!_

And that summarizes the entirety of the last week of my life. Sorry about the wait, guys.

That said, I'm here now, so on with the reviews!

ZombieSlayers: Right? After all, it just happened to me again, because I'm bad... so...

AydenK: My Hero is honestly a lot better than I thought it'd be when I first heard about it. I'm glad I took that time to watch it.

JustLuck: I mean, you aren't wrong, but my sister DOES have a habit of blowing things far out of the water, and her friend does as well, so it really only makes sense from my perspective. Monika's first color choice was actually green because she states that her favorite color is such, though the fact that it's the color of life does make sense contextually. The funniest part about that is that I was not lying about my birthday; My birthday is actually the 20th of September, which makes it within 2 days of the Dokis. Happy coincidences, really. And to answer the deviant question: I didn't know that I need something so badly until I found it.

sonic: Thank you kindly.

A'ight, now... ONST WITH THE TALE!

*DISCLAIMER: Yo, I don't own this franchise. Cool? Cool.*

Chapter 5: Finish That Trip and Rock On

After a quick run through the outside chill that is almost thirty below weather, the four girls and myself enter the clothing store. They seem to be taken slightly aback by the size of the place, much to my amusement.

"Wow... there's so many choices!" Sayori immediately gushes, looking around in a fashion similar to a child in a candy store.

"Y-Yeah..." Yuri mutters in response, glancing around nervously at the people present, who don't seem to really be paying much attention to our group, much to my immense relief. Good to see that there are at least some people that are willing to overlook a group of five friends in which only one is a male.

"Mrrh..." Natsuki grumbles. I see her gritting her teeth together in what seems to be frustration. "What's their problem with pink, huh?!" She exclaims irritably. I can only helplessly shrug.

"I've already explained my viewpoint on the matter to Sayori, so I'm not really keen on saying it again unless you want me to." I reply while pulling out my phone and a pair of earbuds.

Natsuki nearly instantly rounds on me, a fire in her eyes that I'm not really sure where it came from. "What _is_ your opinion on it, huh?! It better be good!" she states powerfully, and I shrug once again.

"I think that it doesn't do well as a primary color-" I start, before getting cut off by Natsuki clearing the distance between us near-instantly, grabbing me by my coat. She starts shaking me violently with rage apparent on her face.

"I told you it had better be good!" Natsuki almost roars at me, and I sigh.

"We're in a public store, kid. Any more of that and you'll get us kicked out before we can even look at the merchandise." I say calmly, though it is distorted by the constant shaking. "You never let me finish what I was about to say, either."

Natsuki stops after a few more shakes, huffing. "Well, spit it out."

"As I was about to say, it's better use is as a secondary or tertiary color." I continue while pulling on my coat to straighten it back out. "It's just an eyesore to look at too much of it at the same time, though it does allow for other colors, like black and red, to stand out better. Again, that's my opinion on the color." I finish while raising my hand in a half-shrug.

"I'd have to agree." Monika cuts in, throwing her right arm around me and pressing herself against my left arm.

I try not to think about the fact that it still feels really nice to receive this kind of attention.

Natsuki looks between the two of us, clenching her hands into fists and gritting her teeth before closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. "Fine, I get it." she finally says after a long moment.

"Fantastic. Now, can we get a move on before we cause an even bigger scene than we already have?" I ask quickly, looking about and being thankful that nobody seemed to notice our shenanigans.

"Ooh! I'm gonna have so much fun picking outfits~!" Sayori cheers before taking off, forcing the rest of us to follow, chuckling and giggling the entire way at her normal behaviors.

"Well, since she's taking the initiative, I'm gonna go ahead and sit my ass down on the bench that's over by the dressing rooms. Let me know if you guys need anything, all right?" I say while walking over to said bench.

"Of course, darling~." Monika replies with just a hint of seductiveness, and I feel my face get just a tad warmer.

After about half and hour or so of killing time on the bench via several methods, I eventually settle on listening to some music. It's not long after that point that I feel a tap on my shoulder. I pause the music and glance upward, seeing Yuri poking her fingers together timidly with a small smile. She's holding a few bags that are quite full of clothing of several varieties, and already seems to be wearing what will be her new go-to jacket; a puffy black marshmallow jacket with red trim for accentuation. She looks good in it, even though it hides her figure. Now that I think on it, though... that's probably intentional.

"Hey, Yuri. You got it all sorted for yourself?" I ask kindly.

Yuri simply nods, never stopping with her finger poking.

"That's good. Wanna sit while we wait for the others?" I ask, already moving over toward the right side of the bench, as she is standing on my left.

Yuri takes a short moment to seemingly think it over, before she sits next to me. "W-What are you listening to?" she asks softly.

"Well, at this exact moment, it's about a guy who's basically gone crazy, and is trying to understand why he's doing what he's doing as he continues to do it. Not a perfect representation of the guy considering that it's based off a game franchise that I think you'd actually like quite a bit, but hey, it's still a good song."

"May..." Yuri starts, before pausing for a short moment and shaking her head. She then looks back at me with a determined look on her face, though I'm not sure why she's determined, of all things. "May I listen to it with you?"

"Why, of course." I reply, taking out my right earphone and handing it to her. Once she situates it, I restart "Purple" from Andrew Stein.

I can't help but laugh internally as Yuri face steadily lights up more and more in joy as she hears the lyrics of the song. Externally, however, I simply keep a small smile on my face until the song is over. "Well?" I ask kindly after the final note is played.

"I-I liked it..." Yuri mutters lightly, smiling slightly at me as she hands my earbud back to me.

"Awesome. So, you like music about mental issues and dark undertones, if I had to guess?" I ask her, not really taking a stab in the dark, but so much as using this to start a bit of a more comfortable atmosphere for Yuri to work with.

Much to my relief, she takes said opportunity, all while never dropping her smile. "That's right." she replies to my question, without any stuttering. "I like literature that involves such normally, along with undertones of horror. It really lets my adrenaline run _wild._ " she continues, and now that never-moving smile is turning a bit ominous. "It just makes it so, when I'm so wrapped up in a book that I can't tell what's real and what's writing, that I just feel the most... _alive._ " she further explains, her smile getting even wider and slightly more deranged as she continues speaking.

Okay. A little disconcerting, but that's fine. We've all got our quirks, right? "I hear ya," I start, putting my hands behind my head, which unintentionally makes my elbow tap Yuri, though I only barely notice her outward reaction, as I'm too focused on my exact thoughts. "I get that there are people out there that like that sort of thing; that's why horror games exist and continue to make profits to this day. That said, I'm not a big fan. I'm more interested in getting a good story, without needing to worry if the characters that I like are about to be viciously killed off in one way or another." I continue with a smile. "That's why, while I like a good twist here and there, I normally go for plots that have an overall good ending in some way or another. Call me a sap, but that's just what I like."

"I guess..." Yuri haltingly replies, making me glance at her and actually pay attention.

The fact that she's bright red and holding her hand against the side of her right breast tips me off to what happened pretty quickly.

"Oh, shit! Sorry!" I immediately apologize, snapping into a more attentive posture. "I-I honestly didn't mean to hit you on the... the... damn it, sorry!" I babble, before planting my face into my hands in embarrassment.

Damn it, of all the ways to derail a conversation. Just my luck.

"I-It's okay!" Yuri exclaims, leaning forward and holding her hand out toward me, though she never makes actual contact. "You didn't mean to, so it's okay!"

"No, it's really not!" I snap, though my aggression is more self-directed than actually toward her. That doesn't stop her from flinching back out of principle. "Since you four have gotten here, all I've done is what could be seen as sexual harassment toward you all, and I never wanted something like that for you guys! Fuck!" I continue, now effectively ranting. "It's not fucking okay." I mutter, smacking my face back into my hands.

Yuri stays silent, though whether it's because she isn't sure how to respond or she's trying to give me some space, I'm uncertain. That said, she does stay near. I'm glad for that, since that means I haven't torn whatever relationship I've built with her down.

We both sit there for an indeterminate time period, though it's not long, before Sayori shows up, practically bouncing up to us. "Hey, you two! What's with the long faces?" She asks peppily, and I can't help but sigh before I can manage to plaster on a smile. My experience in customer service plays a huge part in my ability to do this, and for once, I'm grateful I can do this much.

"No reason, just a conversation that got derailed and went to a place that I shouldn't have taken it." I reply, going for a subversion of logic without lying.

"Oh, okay!" Sayori states giddily, before holding up her bags of clothes. "I've gotten all the clothes I wanted! I'm gonna look sooo cute!" she squeals, and it forces my smile to become somewhat more genuine.

"I don't doubt that, Sayo'." I agree, before turning and nearly face planting into Natsuki, who had gotten right behind me without my noticing. "Jesus!" I yelp, jumping back away from her and sighing while putting a hand on my chest. "Don't do that!" I exclaim, and Natsuki stands there with a shit-eating grin on her face.

Oh, boy. Here we go...

"Don't do what? Scare you?" Natsuki replies haughtily, and I level a semi-serious glower at her.

"I'll be honest to myself and you guys and say yes, even though it makes me sound like a little bitch for being scared of you." I state neutrally, before spinning on my heel...

And almost plowing into Monika, who had moved behind me after I turned my attention to Natsuki.

"Fuckin'-!" I start, taking a step back from her as well.

The giggles that ensue is just salt being rubbed in.

I sigh heavily. "What is this, 'Pick on Chris' day? Whatever did I do to you two?" I ask, only partially serious.

"I just felt like it." Natsuki replies while sticking her tongue out of the corner of her mouth and winking.

"And mine was an honest accident." Monika states quickly after. I sigh again, my anger deflating quickly.

"All right, if you say so. Now that we're done here, can we go? I just wanna get home and relax now." I ask. Thankfully, the four girls all nod in acquiescence.

"Say, Chris?" Natsuki starts, no actual playfulness in her voice present, but instead just curiosity.

"Yeah?" I ask, looking toward her.

"What game was it that your sister was going to get?" she continues, and I stop for a moment before turning on a dime and heading deeper into the mall.

"The game is Monster Hunter: World, and I just remembered that I need to pick up my copy that I pre-ordered months ago. Thank you for reminding me." I answer as the girls scramble to follow me into the heavier-populated portions of the establishment.

A short wait and a slightly lighter wallet later, I walk back to my car with the four young ladies in tow. This time, Sayori claims shotgun, which I'm grateful for as I can't bring trust into myself after my mishap with Yuri to sit in any vicinity that could be classified as "next to her".

"So, while we're on our way back, what kind of music do you guys want to listen to?" I ask politely.

"Ooh, ooh! I wanna listen to a love song!" Sayori immediately replies. I can't help but turn and look at her with a raised eyebrow as I hold my phone, about to search some music involving whatever it is that they request.

"That was quick. Were you planning for this before now, but needed a good opportunity?" I ask.

"Heehee. Guilty." Sayori replies while knuckling her head.

I can only shrug in response. "All right, that's definitely fair." I state, before pausing and thinking of any songs that I can think of for this. Hm...

"All right, I got one for ya." I state, before playing Adelitas Way's "Last Stand." I'm quite pleased to note that she's happily humming along with the song by the time it's done. "Next up?" I ask, directing the question toward the back seat.

Natsuki answers me next. "I like OST's, specifically action based ones. Got any of those?"

"Indeed, I do!" I reply quickly, before playing "Perturbator" from Hotline Miami's soundtrack. After the song finishes and Natsuki finishes bobbing her head along to the beat, Monika cuts in quickly.

"I'm sure that you remember what I like, dear. Do you have anything for me?" She asks coyly, and I grin.

"The funny part is that I just was introduced to some of this band's music a short while ago thatnks to my mother, so you'll have to thank her for this one." I state while playing "International Love" from Pitbull. As the song ends, we arrive at my apartment, and we quickly pile out of the vehicle and move inside to escape the cold.

"Thank you for the shopping trip, Chris." Monika says sincerely as we step inside and start getting wound down for the night. "And I liked the song. You'll need to play me some piano music when you next get the chance."

"I can think of a couple right off the top of my head." I reply simply while smiling. "If it's not obvious, I like listening to a little bit of everything."

"Well, at least you can say that people can't say that you're not diverse." Natsuki quips with a half-grin.

"Yes, yes, but remember, flattery will not get you anywhere with me in games, Nat'." I fire back, and she drops her half-grin for a only half-serious frown.

"Damn. Well, you can't blame me for trying." She states as she starts the game console.

I merely chuckle, before going back about my business for the night.

Today turned out pretty well, I'd honestly say... despite that one nasty hiccup.

I guess I still have some ironing out to do.

A/N: Fuck me, I think that this shit's gonna be a trend. Start Chapter, get distracted, lose basically an entire night, get mad at myself, try again the next night, repeat.

Do I need to actually set a schedule? (looks at previous attempt of doing that) ...Er, right. I've tried that before. Hm.

I'll just have to figure something or another out.

That said, that's gonna wrap this one up! I'm going to bed now.

See ya on the next one!

-Sonix


	6. Not Gonna Leave You Hangin'

A/N: Well.

Hi there.

Sorry about the wait, as my life has been nothing but complete fucking chaos for the last month.

Firstly, I've needed to go and help my parents with building their house, which has been a large project in the making, and I've basically spent the last month straight on helping them and working at my job... amongst other things, such as trying to find new work, so... yeah.

I've been away from my PC for what was effectively a month, not able to do much substantial.

That said, time to get this in gear.

Simply Guardian: Thanks, and I do understand that it's difficult to review something you've already read, lol. That's why I'm all like "Oh, this is fine that there are only a few reviews."

Anonymous: "Pick on Chris" Day is a city-wide actual thing, where I live. Nah, jk. :P Also, looked up Torna's Battle Theme: It's good, and likely would work with that.

JustLuck: Aw, I thought Everybody Loves Chris is the actual name of the show. :P Dat shout out, though. Heh.

sonic: No reply here, amigo. Give me something substantial that isn't the same thing you've said for literally three chapters in a row and we'll work something out for you.

Schedule: I see your use of irony with the guest name and raise you the one-word answer of "life". Sorry, lol.

And with that out of the way, here we go!

*DISCLAIMER: Disclaimers are for buggers, but they are also apparently extremely necessary for me to not be demolished horribly by raving fans. As such... here you are. Yeah.*

Chapter 6: Not Gonna Leave You Hangin'

I awake at my usual time, being just before my alarm goes off at 10 AM, and note something is slightly... off.

In fact, several things have been a little off since I went shopping with the girls last week.

For one, Natsuki seems to be a bit hesitant on sharing opinions with me. Maybe when I called her out on her color choice, she lost a bit of confidence... hm...

But more prominently, Yuri has been getting... Let's say bold. She's contemplated on more than one occasion to hold my hand, and that's just what I've noticed. On top of that, she's been leaning on my shoulder, and stealing little bits of contact involving affection where she can.

That said, none of this registers right now.

What _does_ register at this moment is that there's a curtain of purple hair obscuring my vision, and what feels suspiciously like breasts pressed firmly into my back, along with a pair of lean arms wrapped around my torso.

Needless to say, I whip my head around as quickly as I can, mostly operating off of shock.

The fact that my face nearly rams into Yuri's, lip-first, only further fuels my shock. Thus, I do the most reasonable, and mature, thing that I can think of.

Shriek like a man-bitch.

"Yuri?! The hell?!" I shriek loudly, quickly lifting myself up on my mattress, using my arms.

"Guh!" Monika gasps in shock, snapping awake nigh-instantly with a jump. This jump, being the general kind of jump where a human moves away from the thing that startled them, resulted in Monika very ungracefully falling off the bed and smacking her head on the floor. "Ow."

I, however, am currently distracted by the fact that my hand is planted firmly onto one of Yuri's breasts, the byproduct of moving quickly in an attempt to get myself up into a position where I can better move if need be. This leads to her looking at me with an atomic blush and nervousness showing strongly in her eyes, and me removing my hand from her person with as extreme prejudice as possible.

God damn it, not again.

"A-A-Ah, u-um, I, u-uh-" Yuri stutters heavily, not able to get a word out due to her own embarrassment.

"I... Um... Sorry." I manage, looking down while moving my hands as far away from her as possible. I maintain my upright position as Monika shoots up onto her feet, holding her hand to the back of her head where she obviously landed on it. She levels a glare at me, full of irritation more than anything else.

"What the hell, Chris?" Monika asks in a serious tone, one that she rarely uses. In fact, I haven't heard her use this tone with me before at all, which tells me there's more at play here than just my manly-man (read: very bitchy) shriek.

"Hey, don't ask me!" I reply quickly while holding my hands up in front of myself, trying to be placating. "I had no say in waking up with her next to me, so I didn't know how the hell to react!" I babble quickly, not having experienced her wrath before and not wanting to find out what it's like.

"Hm." Monika intones, before grabbing my hand and pulling me into a hug, which drags me to the edge of the bed, her ire for me seemingly put to the wayside. I manage to turn my head just enough to catch her leveling a glare and a silent message of just who I belong with to Yuri. Much to my great shock, however, rather than be put off by this, Yuri narrows her eyes right back at Monika, as though silently accepting her challenge.

I file this interaction away for later. I can only hope that this doesn't escalate from here.

I manage to pull my head out of Monika's grip, which I note is exceptionally strong for what it should be, and turn to Yuri. "Now, look. You're not in trouble here," I start while subtly elbowing Monika and pointedly glancing at her, to which she thankfully gets the message and drops her glare. "But, I _would_ like to know just what you were doing in my bed. After all, and I'm sorry to put it like this, but normally that kind of action is generally not taken lightly. I just want to know why, y'know?" I ask kindly, while adjusting myself on the bed to a more relaxed position.

Blowing off an awkward question like it's no big deal? Check.

"I-I... Um..." Yuri stutters again, now poking her fingers together.

Stuttering female as is so stereotypical it almost hurts? Check times two.

"Yuri." Monika intones, making Yuri snap her attention to her. "Answer his question, please. I'd like to know, too."

And defensive female who is acting as though her boyfriend is about to be snatched from her? That's three, and a complete list.

"I... just wanted to know if it was nice..." Yuri squeaks, now pressing her fingers together hard enough that it nearly draws blood. "Y-you sleep next to him every night, and..." she trails, and I understand where she's going with it enough to know what to say next.

"You wanted to see if you would like something like that for yourself, right?" I ask. "And, if I had to guess, you were also likely thinking self-deprecating thoughts at the same time, such as 'I don't deserve this' or other things like that."

"Y-Yeah..." Yuri replies, removing her fingers from the presence of one another, much to my relief.

"Well, I understand the feeling, which is why I'm going to tell you that you're fine." I state, making both Yuri and Monika look at me quickly; one in shock, and one in indignation. I merely shrug. "I have an inferiority complex. I get that feeling that she felt, which is why I'm not intending on punishing her for it, not like I would anyway."

"R-Really?" Yuri asks, her eyes wide in shock.

"Really, really." I reply, nodding. "But hey, enough of this. I'm gonna go get ready for the day." I get up off the bed and stretch, before grabbing a change of clothes and heading into the bathroom to go through my now normal process of getting ready for the day; Brushing teeth, deodorant, shower, and change in clothes.

After all that is said and done, I head into the living room, where the four girls are all sitting and relaxing. Yuri has gotten back to where she was at in her book, Monika is sitting at the computer and doing... something or another, not sure what right now, Natsuki is playing my PS4, and Sayori is currently puzzling over a piece of paper, likely trying to come up with some poetry. "So, anybody wanna do something today?" I ask, addressing the question to the whole room.

"I'm good with just relaxing today. Either that, or getting my hands on some manga, if you're cool with that." Natsuki replies, shrugging and not looking away from her current fixation, being Tales of Berseria.

"I'm good to just relax today, too!" Sayori exuberantly states, looking up with a big smile on her face.

"And everybody else?" I ask, directing the question to Yuri and Monika, both of whom shrug as they are focused intently on their current entertainments.

"All right, so..." I start, before sitting next to Natsuki while brandishing my second controller threateningly. "You ready to go another round?" I ask with a savage grin, leading to her paling slightly, though she gathers her courage and nods determinedly. "Good!" I reply, being quite chipper about it.

I never notice Sayori gain a dejected look while looking over her poem sadly.

Natsuki and I go at it for a few rounds, and Sayori eventually excuses herself to use the restroom. I nod, though I give no verbal response to her as I am in the zone, doing my damnedest to not let Natsuki get an easy win on me.

It's a short while afterward, about 10 minutes, before I sigh and stand up. "Hold up, Natsuki. I need a drink."

"Make it quick!" Natsuki replies, "I'm warmed up, and you better not be trying to ice me!"

"Wouldn't dream of it, kiddo." I reply, before moving to the fridge. After I get a drink, I pause to look over Sayori's poem...

And my breath hitches in my throat. _Hard._

'In this new world I find myself,

So vibrant, glowing, and green

And every day I look at my dreams

And wonder what could have been.

But even still, this dark prevails

And the rain clouds never fall

So thus here, in my end I scream

Farewell, one and all.'

I don't even think twice about it.

Sayori, writing something like this?

This is bad.

This is really, _really, REALLY_ bad.

I sprint to the bathroom, not even paying attention to Natsuki, who I think may have hollered at me, asking what I was doing. I didn't even stop to notice Monika following closely behind me, as she must have noticed my distress.

"SAYO!" I bellow at the door, smashing my fist against it. "Open the hell up!"

"Wah! C-Chris?!" I hear from inside, and I immediately know that there's definitely something going on in there that she doesn't want me knowing about. Most people would respond with indignation at that, since, you know, they're trying to do some business. "I-I, uh...!"

"Listen here, Sayo!" I state powerfully, "I don't know what's running through that head of yours, but you listen to me, don't do what you're thinking!"

"W-What are you talking about?" Sayori asks, and I try to turn the knob. Locked. Damn it.

"I saw your poem!" I exclaim, and suddenly, I can almost feel the sorrow through the door. "Listen to me. Don't you _dare_ pull that trigger and throw it all away!"

"Why?!" Sayori asks me through the door, and I can hear her moving around with great fervor inside. Fuck, how do I get this solid wood door open?! Who knows what could be happening in there! Dammit!

"Because you have every reason left to stay alive!" I bellow while smacking my head against the door, despite knowing that said action will do nothing to help my case. Frustration is a bitch. "All that hell you've lived and seen? Drown all those memories in gasoline. Light a match, pull the pin, you are not who you've been, the past is just lessons learned, light it up and let 'em burn! That rhyme should say it all!"

Silence pervades from all parties, waiting with bated breath as to what I will say next. I feel tears start rolling down my cheeks, leaking slowly from what are likely about to be extremely red eyes.

"I understand how you're feeling. I get that you feel completely worthless. But before you go any further, I want to to stop and think what you dying will do to the four of us out here." I start, my voice carrying a tremor as I continue. "I was there, once. I was in your shoes, ready to end it all by any means necessary. But you know what I did instead? I manned the fuck up and did my best to become a better person, and to not leave to chance what my passing would do to those around me. If they would be happier with or without my presence, if I was just burdening people, all of the questions like that, I decided to cast aside and _talk to the people that care for me, beyond shadows of doubt._ "

"Why would you do that?" Sayori asks me, her voice showing a tremor as well.

"Because I didn't want to hurt anyone!" I reply, shocking those around me, though I pay no attention to that. "Because when I asked myself if the people around me would be happier without me there, I wanted to say yes. But then I thought about it and realized that _I didn't know_ , and _that_ was what snapped me out of a suicidal fit and made me talk to someone I know loves me dearly about it. And you want to know what I learned?"

"What?" Sayori asks softly, so softly that I only barely heard it through the door.

"I learned that there would be no less than one hundred people that would mourn me." I state, clenching my hand and letting it drag down slightly on the door. "All of my extended family, my friends, the friends I made online who don't even know my face, my classmates, _all of them_ , would be hurt if I left the world. And while you may have less than that, it doesn't change that you don't want to hurt anybody, especially your friends, right?"

Silence.

"That's what I thought. So please, Sayori." I beg, leaning heavily on the door. "Please, talk to us. Let us help you. _You are better than this._ "

I wait. I stay there, begging desperately in my head to any higher power that exists to let her hear my words.

And it's not long before I get my answer in the form of the tell-tale signs of the door unlocking.

I manage to get my weight off the door just in time for it to swing inward, and I just barely catch my bearings well enough to compensate for the weight of Sayori plowing into me heavily, bawling near-hysterically.

I glance past her and see the rope, hanging at the perfect height for Sayori's head to rest in the noose if she stood on the toilet.

Thank god I was right about the poem. I'd rather not think about what happened if I had waited any longer or didn't notice.

"I'm sorry!" Sayori wails, and I hold her tighter. "I'm so sorry! I didn't even think about what I'd be doing to you guys, how much that would hurt! I could only think of how useless I am! How much a burden I am! I waste money on clothes and food, I don't think about my friends and... and...!" she manages, before she breaks down completely, only managing to hysterically bawl against my shoulder.

"It's okay..." I state softly, though I can't help but let a few tears fall for the young lady clinging on to me. "Now, c'mere." I mutter, before guiding her to my bed and setting her down. "Get yourself some rest, okay? I want you to think about what I said, long and hard. I want you to know that no matter what..." I pause to gesture to the currently crowded around us Natsuki, Yuri, and Monika. "We're all here for ya, and just want what's best for you. So please, don't do this again. _Please._ And if you like, I can get you learning some stuff that you would normally in school; after all, being proactive generally makes one feel better, right? Right." I emphasize, before letting her rest onto the bed.

"Y-Yeah..." Sayori sniffles, before leaning back onto the pillows and closing her eyes.

It's not long before Sayori falls into a fitful sleep. I can only sigh, knowing she'll have nightmares about this.

I can only hope she uses them to reinforce her will to live, if for no other reason than for us.

"All right." I state, wiping my eyes free of any remaining tears. I whirl around and give a pointed stare at Yuri. "In light of this event, you and I _will_ be having a chat about your cutting habits."

"Wha-" Yuri starts, before I raise a hand to cut her off.

"I know you've been doing it." I state, before reaching into my back pocket and pulling out my personal knife. I flick it open and point to one specific spot on the blade that looks like it's rusted due to the black wash color of the blade, but is in actuality dried blood. "You've done a good job of hiding it, but there are three things that gave you away: the first was how new your bandages around your wrists were, the second was this, and the third was the positioning of my knife. After all, this knife is the only one I have that could make a clean cut on skin with no problem, as I have personally learned via accidental self-damage, and I _always_ keep it in a specific placement in my back pocket for ease of access. You, whether by accident or otherwise, moved it from this position, which tipped me off."

"Oh..." Yuri quietly intones while poking her fingers together, making me sigh.

"Look, I understand that it's a hard habit to kick, especially considering who you are. That's why I'm going to dedicate as much of the next bit of free time I have to talking to you about it. Considering we almost just had a suicide attempt, I _really_ don't want to see what happens if something like this goes too far." I explain, wrapping up the conversation. "That said, I don't want to have this conversation right now. My emotions are running high, as I'm sure that you guys are feeling as well." I pointedly stride out of my room as I say this, before sitting back down in the living room and grabbing my controller. "Let's just put this stuff on the back burner for now. I really don't wanna think about it, and would rather vent some frustration by murder-fucking some rotten corpse back to death."

I close out BlazBlue, being the game that Natsuki and I were playing, and fire up Call of Duty WW2.

And as the day closes out, I check on Sayori before finding a place to sleep myself. Still asleep, still fitful.

I wonder if she's had a good night's sleep since she got here.

I can only hope it gets better, much like how I hope it get better for the rest of us. After all...

Our dreams will be plagued by the nightmares of what would have been had I been too slow.

A/N: I decided to put a lot more feeling into Sayori's suicide attempt this time around, though I also made it into a suicide contemplation rather than an actual attempt. It was overall better in my opinion, as the end effect is still the same, and I got a good bit of my own experience with suicide in. I felt it fit for the theme, and lets you guys get to know Chris a little better.

Let me know if I did better or worse, as this was the biggest revision I've done thus far!

And real quick, bonus points to those who can spot the song reference here. After all, I've been waiting for the opportunity to use it.

'Till next time...

-Sonix


	7. Now Presenting Job Opportunities

A/N: Gah, fuck.

My back hurts.

Context: My grandmother (the one that I visited this passed summer, as was a point made in the original of this fic) passed on.

After that, I decided "Fuck working solely at the place that I hate to work at", and redoubled my efforts in finding a new job. Got one in the postal service, specifically FedEx.

I then _immediately_ get put on as a truck unloader, and have to move just about 1000 (or close to that, I didn't actually count them) on both the days I worked it.

I haven't actually worked out in about 5 years, so needless to say, _I'm getting one now._

Enough of that, though. Reviews!

Circumspecto: Thank you! I was honestly a little scared to change the story like that, since I didn't know if it would really have the same emotional oomph behind it as the original. I have noted all your ideas, so thank you for that as well!

elementalheroshadow: I'm gonna answer all 5 (and I'm sorry it's not 6) reviews in one go, all right? Cool. Firstly, it honestly still baffles me that people are recommending my story at all, and when you said that you gave it a try because of those recommendations... well, I still get fuzzy feels from it. Also, I'm gonna be real here, I had no idea that the girls actually had cannon heights, since I'm pretty sure it's not stated in-game (I could just be a fucking dolt as well lol). Secondly, while DaMastah reviewed several chapters and gave many of them two thumbs ups, I, unfortunately, cannot state that I really know them, and thus get along with them, without lying since... well, I don't really _know_ them, y'know? Trust me, calling the girls "kiddo" is just a tick of his. A term of endearment to those he cares for that are younger than him, if you would. That's actually based on my own habits, so I just carried it over. Yeah... that was a thing that happened... in my defense, there is the issue of the fact that I'm basing this off a fic with no original planning behind it, and... honestly didn't think about it until well after the fact. Whoops. Also, the two characters introduced are based heavily on my actual sister and her best friend, and they both absolutely _despise_ pink. It's actually kinda funny. I'm glad that you liked the way I handled that particular issue, though, since it tells me that I must have handled it well enough.

such type

much response

wow

All that, and not a single word toward the actual advancement of the story. Gawd, I'm awful. Onst with the tale!

*DISCLAIMER: Greetings, I am the evil Phaazite Dementor, and I hereby claim the properties of this franchise as mi-*smashed by a brick-filled suitcase* AND THEN PURPLE PRETTY GIRL CUT SELF IN CHEST AND WENT NIGHT-NIGHT AND...*

Chapter 7: Now Presenting Job Opportunities

"Shit! No, no, _no!_ " I bellow, desperately hugging the corpse of Sayori. Her eyes, now missing the shimmer of life, stare blankly at the ceiling of the bathroom. There's a noose tightly coiled around her neck, and said neck is bent at a harsh angle. There is also extreme bruising around her neck, meaning that it was definitely quick, but I'll never know if it was instant. The thought of it not terrifies me.

I was too late.

I can hear crying behind me, and I turn around to see Monika in the bathroom doorway. She's holding her hands to her face, completely obscuring my view of it, as she trembles uncontrollably. I pay no heed to that, though, as I focus back in on Sayori... or rather, her body.

"I'm... I'm sorry." I mumble, bowing my head. "I... I should've..."

"You should have."

I snap my head back up, looking straight at Sayori's unresponsive face. After a short moment though, her eyes, still devoid of any light, snap to focus on me.

I can't help but jump in fear while letting her go, letting her head smack down to the floor and twist awkwardly, not receiving any support from her broken neck.

"You should have seen the signs. You should have _known."_ Her voice continues, and before long, her arms start moving, clumsily hoisting her up into an awkward position where her body is slightly twisted to the side, but her arms are holding her upper body off the ground.

Her head lolls horrifically backward, but I'm certain that if she could, her eyes would still be on me.

"I... I...!" I stammer, before I can't handle it anymore and bolt for the door. _"I'm sorry!"_ I cry.

I'm halted by Monika.

"It's not your fault, Chris." she states, her hands still on her face.

"It is, though! I should have-!" I start, before my voice box locks up in sheer terror.

In that moment, Monika removed her hands from her face, revealing to me her demented appearance that she can take on when you're recording the game and are in her room.

She steps toward me.

I step back, keeping my eyes locked on her.

Bad move.

Two arms sling around my neck and pull down, _hard._

I can only scream in terror as I look backward to see Sayori still looking me in the eyes, though her head is now almost sideways. I swear that I see the skin on her neck _tearing_ from the effort of holding her head up with no support from her spine.

As I fall, I see Yuri and Natsuki both approaching me as well, these two looking even more horrific than Sayori or Monika.

Yuri has lifeless eyes as well, but her face is stretched into a rictus smile, and she has two exceptionally deep stab wounds on her chest. She's holding the knife that likely caused the wounds in her hand as she slowly approaches me, brandishing said knife with what seems to be the intent on doing something similar to me.

But Natsuki is easily the most horrifying of the three.

As she walks forward, her face is in a perfect deadpan, and there's a strange static present in her eyes, sometimes merely looking like grains on a screen to outright blotting them out, and rapidly changing in severity.

But the most horrifying thing is the fact that her front is almost completely covered in vomit, along with it dribbling steadily out of her mouth, and that the left half of her body is heavily distorted by glitches. On top of that, the right half of her body seems to be steadily wafting away, almost as though her body literally cannot hold itself together.

I can't stop myself.

I scream.

I continue to scream as the four of them close in on me, their expressions never once changing.

I fail to relent as I feel my face forcing itself into the same demented look as Monika's, watch my view pitch to the side uncontrollably as my neck snaps itself, and I can paradoxically feel two deep wounds appear as a screaming agony in my chest, and lose all feeling in the rest of my body. I can only stare on in horror as my body starts falling apart in the same way as Natsuki's.

As my body tears itself apart in front of the four girls I have sworn to do all that I can to help, my vision finally goes black.

But the most terrifying thing of all this?

Through my scream, which I can only now barely hear, I hear all of them whisper at the same time...

"You'll be broken soon. Just like us."

I wake up with a horrified gasp, quickly clenching my right hand into a fist and smacking my chest where the stab wounds were, confirming feeling in my hands and the lack of pain in my chest simultaneously. I twist my head around, making confirmation that my neck is not broken, and I use my left hand to quickly feel my face, which is not stuck in that _terrifying visage._

"Oh, thank _fuck."_ I moan gratefully, slouching back into a resting position. "That was literally the most horrifying dream I've had in years."

I lay back down while checking my phone. 5:36 A.M.

"Fuck me, it's too early. Goddamn nightmares." I grumble lowly, before taking in my current situation.

Monika has herself pressed against me tightly, though it's understandable since she refused to sleep anywhere else than right next to me. However, the awkward part that came into play is the fact that we're on the couch in my living room right now, leaving next to no actual space for movement. Must be why I'm as stiff as I am.

Speaking of...

I look down and focus in on Monika, extremely grateful to not see her demented appearance that can occur in-game. However, my mind is still playing tricks on me, which makes me swear that I see the grin that she wears for a split moment.

I shiver.

"Oh, great. This is gonna fucking plague me now. Ugh." I grunt.

"Mm... What is?" Monika asks, making me freeze as she stirs for a moment before she pries her eyes open and looks at me tiredly.

I'm grateful to see a look of camaraderie instead of her delusional look of madness.

"Nothing to worry about. Just a nasty nightmare." I reply steadily. "Now, go back to sleep. I'll be doing the same here in a minute."

"Mmkay." Monika mumbles while burying her face into my torso. I take the slight moment of reprieve to gather my bearings with a sigh, before I lie back down.

Shit, I have _got_ to figure out a way to help these girls. I may well be the only thing keeping them from falling apart completely.

But first, sleep.

A couple hours pass before I wake up again, this time having had a dreamless void overtaking my mind.

Any thought that I had about this is halted, however, as I hear terrified mumbles and grumbles coming from my room.

I make no hesitations as I pull myself out of my position as well as Monika's grip to rush into said room, coming across a fitfully turning Sayori. As I walk in, her eyes snap open and she gasps, shaking something fierce and looking like she could really use a hug.

I oblige to this, hugging her tightly while calmly talking to her. "You're good, you're good. It's a nightmare, you'll be all right.

"C-Chris?" Sayori asks, seemingly begging that it's me.

"Yeah. I'm here." I reply. Sayori says nothing further, instead opting to break down into tears.

Yeah. Must've been a really awful nightmare.

I say nothing, opting to instead go for the "let me be your rock" strategy, where I just provide support in the best way possible; just be there.

It seemingly works, as she steadily begins to calm down over a period of time; one that I failed to count, as well as not caring for how long it took.

Shit, it just hit me. How long has she had to bear this depression? Was it just for however long she'd been "alive" for, according to her lore? Or was it for eons of time, equivalent to however many times the game has been played, since she ends up becoming president at the end?

I suppose there's no way to tell except to ask, but that seems... callous. Cold-hearted. Just a no-go territory.

"How about you go take a shower and freshen up a bit, eh?" I instead ask, ushering her toward the bathroom. "While you do that, I'm going to get started on finding you four a job of some variety. And if not on that, then I'll find a way to advance your education. After all, being a part of work and doing something productive always makes someone feel better, right? Right." I ramble.

"Okay. And Chris?" Sayori starts, looking back to me from the bathroom door that she has just about entered.

"Yeah?" I ask, having started moving toward the living room door.

"Thank you. For everything you've done for us." Sayori finishes, before gently closing the door. I wait a moment to listen for the shower to start, and shake my head with a rueful smile.

"Don't thank me. I'm just doing what a person who sees someone else, or in this case multiple someones, who are broken and need help would do." I mumble to myself, before returning to the living room, where the other three gals that so forcefully entered my life are holding out.

Seeing none of them awake at the moment, which is odd considering that I had moved rather quickly to get to Sayori and had to make some noise and remove myself from Monika's grip, I head over to my PC and start my search.

It's not long before I run into a road block on my endeavor.

"Ah, son of a _bitch."_ I growl, before placing a hand on my temple and massaging it as I think.

"Whatever is the matter?" I hear behind me, and I freeze as I have two arms wrap around me in a similar fashion as my nightmare last night.

 _'OhfuckohfuckOHFUCK-'_ I babble to myself before I lock down on that fear. _'It's a nightmare you damn fool. Get a hold of yourself.'_

"It's an issue of what you guys are going to do in terms of job opportunities." I reply, looking Monika in the eye while (hopefully) not showing any outward signs of residual fear.

"Why's that?" Monika asks, choosing to focus in on the computer screen instead of my face. I release an internal sigh of relief.

"Well, the biggest issue at hand right now is the fact that none of you have any actual paperwork, which presents a significant issue. Basically, you four are ghosts: you are non-existent entities that the government has not taken into consideration, which means many, _many_ downsides." I start my explanation.

"What kind of downsides are you talking about?" Monika asks, looking back to me with a raised eyebrow.

I manage to shake off my fear this time, reminding myself that it was a dream and to _stop being a damn pussy._ "The biggest problem here is that there is no such thing as a government sanctioned job for you; on top of that, any job that takes taxes out of your pay is a solid no-go either; without proper identification, be it a birth certificate, driver's licence, social security card, etcetera. Basically; actual jobs are not an option."

"Ah. Well, you know I can _make_ those documents, right? I'd just need-" Monika starts her reply, but I quickly hold my hand up to stop her.

"I'm sorry to say it, but I'm afraid to tell you that you _cannot_ make those documents with what I have available to me. Before you try and explain, allow me to do so first." I cut her off as she opens her mouth to interrupt me. After she closes her mouth, I press onward. "Thank you. Number one, while I have no issues with you and your capabilities, the biggest problem at hand is that you'd need to actually successfully get access to the systems in the government's network that would allow for you to change that stuff, which would already set off alarms there, and on top of that, if you manage to get in _without_ triggering the alarms, you would need to be incredibly careful so as to not tip somebody off. The moment that someone gets tipped off, they can easily track down this IP address, and then it's game over. So no, I cannot allow you to do something like this in good faith. The risks are too much for you guys."

"Mou~..." Monika pouts, before sighing. "All right, I get it. Don't hack into government things to get what's needed."

"Thank you. Please understand that I'm not doing it to spite you, Monika. I do it because I care for you guys, and just want to see you safe. On top of that, I don't trust the government to do that. After all, if they figure out what you were, while I doubt heavily that you guys would be turned into lab rats what with ethics and morals nowadays, they would certainly endeavor to try and replicate what happened to get you here. Not a good thing, that." I further explain.

"Okay, I concede your point. So, what are our options?" Monika asks.

"Well, my first idea that came to mind was Livestreaming. I know a guy that makes a perfect example of this; that being that he lives quite comfortably with the money that he makes while streaming. Hell, he even paid for a pricey surgery to fix his sleep apnea out of his own pocket and was still able to pay all his bills and whatever have you." I reply, which makes Monika tilt her head while looking at me with a puzzled expression.

It's so adorable that it almost makes me forget that horrifying visage she had in my nightmare. Almost.

"You can make a living off of that? How so?" she asks, allowing me to focus on the question instead of her.

If she hasn't figured out that something shook me up pretty bad by now, I must have one _hell_ of a poker face.

"Donations are the biggest factor at hand." I start, ticking a finger off as I explain. "If people like you and your content, they'll just kinda throw money at you and call it good. I like to think of it as payment for services rendered, though definitely not required. The secondary factor at hand is subscriptions. Similarly to getting monthly issues of something, you instead give the streamer 5 bucks a month as a way to say 'yo, I like your content, keep it up!'"

"So, what? You just play the game and be yourself? And if people like that, they give you money?" Monika asks, looking relatively shocked that the concept could be so simple, and yet so conducive to the streamer.

"Yep! Despite the fact that the world we live in is... well, actually really fucked up, the cool thing is that there are still people who are generous enough to basically help provide for your living so long as you keep giving them what they desire, which in this case is entertainment." I wrap up the explanation there. "Now other things that come to my mind as options are writing your own music and selling them to the correct sources, though I'm not sure how that one would work, writing stories and selling those, maybe doing some freelance programming... Hell, there's probably a _lot_ of things that one could do without government sanctioning..."

As Monika and I continue our conversation, we are both oblivious to the fact that Natsuki, Yuri, and Sayori are all present and listening to the conversation at hand.

That is, until Natsuki finally has enough of waiting and bursts into her tsun-tsun wrath. "As great as it is to listen to you guys talking like we're not here, which we _are_ , can you focus on us for just a moment please?! We're starving over here!"

"Yeah, of cour-" I start as I turn to the group of three, before I lock up for a short moment.

The images of the four of them in their nightmarish states flash through my mind before I manage to pull myself together well enough to finish my sentence. "Of course. What are you guys all feeling?" I ask, trying to play it off as nothing.

Monika doesn't buy it for a moment. "Are you okay? That's at least the fourth time that I've seen you with a look of sheer terror on your face!" she exclaims while taking my hand in hers. "Please, Chris. Talk to us. We need you to not be falling apart in front of us, or we just may do the same."

I take a deep breath. "All right. So this is what happened..."

A/N: Aaaaand there we are. So, to those of you that are new here, that _entire_ dream sequence at the start is new. I decided to take a crack at ramping up some issues, but this time specifically with Chris himself.

Let you guys get into his head a little more.

That said, I thank you guys very much for reading! Criticism is always welcome, and don't be afraid to hit me up with some, since I'm starting to change things a pretty fair bit!

Until I see ya next:

-Phaazite Dementor Sonix


	8. Don't Be A Dolt and You'll Be Fine

Ah... yeah.

This is awkward, isn't it? Just... comin' on back to this story after... fuck dude, 6 months? Almost exactly?

Yeah, I've been trying to get the motivation to get this chapter together for the last half year, and... I really just couldn't. And I'm really sorry about that.

That said, I'm gonna type this one out, and... I don't know, man. We'll have to see where it goes from here.

Review Responses:

Simply Guardian: Thanks for the compliment, bro. I was honestly contemplating it at the time, and as I was typing it, I was pretty much begging that it was going to be good enough to raise just a hair of tension in the group. Hope that worked well enough.

elementalheroshadow: Thank ya kindly, glad to see that the nightmare sequence livened it up a bit.

thatoneguy: Really don't know how to respond to this, outside of the fact that I may have autism and simply had never been diagnosed. No way to tell, really.

Guest: I appreciate the attempt to offer assistance on the point of getting this fanfic the cover art it deserves, but, uh... Fanfiction site doesn't like urls in places that aren't specifically allowing them, so your e-mail address got lost to the aether. Good thing, too: it may well have been absolutely spammed by people who were looking for free art. Feel free to PM me on the matter, whomever you may be.

Auxillary Nexus: These are fair points, and I may well capitalize on them. Thanks for the input!

Eternal Violets: I appreciate the condolences, but really... the only thing that I can say on the matter was that it was just her time. Considering that she had Parkinson's and Alzheimer's, I'm just glad she went peacefully.

eminutemen18: I'm honestly still debating as to whether he'll show up at all, given that I even get there again. That said, if I do manage to claw my way back to that point, well... it was a choice that I made on the fly to maintain interest, including my own, if I'm honest. I'll make an endeavor to write him in more sensibly and with an actual purpose this time, but if I can't, he's staying out. Sorry.

Guest 2: I'm gonna guess that you wrote all three of these reviews, given that they were all close together and in sequential order of Chapters. As such, one large response: You're absolutely right, I should've just turned this into one 5-way fest immediately (insert a spinning Kappa face here). That said, Chris _is_ an adult: He has his own place and pays his own bills, considering that he has his own phone and apartment. He's also got enough of a developed brain on him to know when to relax and when to be serious about something, it just happens to be that his relaxed state is to be slightly childish. Nothin' wrong with being a kid at heart.

Circumspecto: It's honestly because it was a dropped plot point. That is, at least, _for now._ I'm certain that you'll like what I had planned for that little tidbit.

Guest 3: The sacrifice was not in vain.

Voba: Thank you! I'm glad that you are willing to give such praise to me, a... well, a nobody who really just wanted to write something on a whim and make it better. Thank you, seriously. I'm here now, and I'm sorry it took so long to get here.

And that's that. Well, enough dawdling; let's get this show on the road, eh? Here's to hoping I can actually keep this going.

DISCLAIMER:

Chapter 8: Don't Be A Dolt and You'll Be Fine

As nice as having a hot 18 or 19 year-old chick clinging on to you while slightly crying due to the nightmares that her game inadvertently gave you is, it's starting to kind of get old. Why?

Well, for one, I'm losing feeling in my left arm, since Monika's been clinging to it for the last _hour_ while apologizing profusely. This is disconcerting, since again, it's only been an hour. She's been squeezing it pretty tightly.

And for the second part, which Natsuki clearly agrees with since she's starting to grate her teeth pretty badly, we're all _super_ hungry.

"All right, Monika, it's okay." I state, placing my right hand on the back of her head and rubbing it gently. I can't help but notice absently that her hair is super soft. "And I'm glad for your concern, but it's something that I'll have to get over myself. But for now, can you please let my arm go? It's starting to get to the point where I can't feel that arm anymore, and Natsuki looks like she's about to go nuclear on you." I continue, noting Natsuki's teeth-grating volume has increased to impressive levels, she's clenching her hands quite tightly at her sides, and her glare has elevated to "if I could shoot lasers at you with my eyes, I would right now" levels.

I swear I hear Sayori mutter something under her breath, but when I take a quick glance at her, she looks the same as ever. Must be hearing things.

"Hey, you can't blame me for being hungry! I've been waiting for you guys to break up the pity session for a _whole hour!_ " Natsuki bellows, before forcibly grabbing Monika around her torso, getting an "Ah!" of surprise out of her, before forcibly yanking her off my person... and nearly taking my arm with her, as Monika was too shocked to properly release it before the yanking happened.

I keep my face straight, but I am certainly cussing up a storm in my mind due to Natsuki's actions. _'Shit, dude, that_ hurt! _I'm going to have to drill that into them; they're all significantly stronger than they should be. I'll need to tell them to be more gentle with others... Wonder what caused that... must be the fact that when they came into this world, they were generated with optimized properties. Wouldn't put that past Monika due to her perfectionist standpoint. She'd accept nothing less.'_ I process, before shrugging the thoughts off. "Thanks, Natsuki. Monika, I get where you're coming from, and I appreciate the sentiment that you guys basically gave me the nightmare, but it's all right. I'll get over it. For now though, let's go get some food, yeah?"

I barely get the words out before I hear both Natsuki and Sayori agree with me. Not vocally, but with their stomachs. The grumble that left the girls' torsos was honestly quite impressive, if not exaggerated. Sayori blushes lightly in mild embarassment, but Natsuki levels a stare at me that is hyper-focused.

"Yes." Natsuki replies simply, standing up and walking to the front door to get her shoes.

"... Well, let's get moving. I'd rather not have Mount Natsuki blow up again." I reply simply, standing myself.

As I get my shoes on, Sayori comes up behind me and leans down near my head, allowing me to hear her whisper the words, "Be careful around her. She may break you just like she broke us." My breathing locks up and my eyes widen in shock, and Sayori removes herself from my personal bubble, leaving me to my thoughts for just a moment as she gets her own shoes on.

 _'That's right... she_ remembers _what Monika did to them. After all, this_ is _Act 4 Sayori. Hm...'_ I think, before shrugging it off for the moment. _'Food first, fixing later. Not a conversation I'm looking forward to, though.'_

After heading out to a local restaurant and getting more than a few odd looks from passers by at the fact that there is one guy sitting and happily chatting with four girls, one of which is eating like her life depends on it (no prizes to whoever guesses as to the answer to who that one is, making me feel bad since I made her wait to eat when I knew she's had issues with food in the past), I pay for our bill and drive us back to my quaint little apartment.

"All right girls," I state, drawing their attention after they got themselves situated, "It's time that we discussed a game plan for you guys."

"What do you mean?" Monika asks while tilting her head confusedly, making me chuckle.

"Well, let's be frank here; you can't exactly just sit around and waste away here in my apartment, right? It's gotta be awfully boring. Hell, I have a job mostly for the fact that it gives me something to _do_ with myself." I reply.

Of all the people that I was expecting to answer that, though, it's actually Natsuki that gives me the response this time, and she does it with a resounding "Finally!" that resonates through my apartment.

"So, I'm willing to take any suggestions, and I'll see if there's a market for it out there. Just keep in mind, you'll be pretty much freelancing wiht what you choose." I continue, as though Natsuki hadn't just bellowed in my apartment.

"Freelancing? What's that, and why will we be doing it?" Sayori asks, tilting her head tot he side curiously while placing her index finger on her cheek.

"Freelancing basically means that you are a standalone individual in the work that you do; everything is your own work, and you effectively get your own pay and everything to that effect." I explain, before leaning back in my chair and releasing a haggard sigh. "The reason as to _why,_ however, is far less fun. Effectively speaking, you guys are ghosts."

"G-Ghosts? W-Why is that the case?" Yuri speaks up this time, her stutter still showing through. Gonna need to work on that.

"Not in the literal sense as to what a ghost is, but more so the figurative meaning that you guys shouldn't, by _any_ counts, exist." I start, before raising a hand at Natsuki's protest before it even gives rise, especially since I see her getting ready for a tirade. "Let me finish, kiddo. You guys came out of a video game, which means that you have none of the things that you absolutely need to get a legitimate, government-sanctioned job. These documents that you need are as follows;" I state before raising a hand. "Birth Certificate, Social Security Card, and Proof of Citizenship to the United States of America, the country in which you currently reside." I tick off a finger with each additional item, before holding the the fingers toward them. "Without these three things, a government-sanctioned job is impossible; at best, you'd be turned down without a second thought. At worst, someone's gonna investigate, and that's a whole new can of worms that I would very much prefer left unopened."

"You know that I could get us those, right?" Monika asks before I can cut her off. As I open my mouth to respond, I hear Sayori mutter something, a bit too loudly since I'm the furthest away from the four, which means they all can hear her, too.

What is that something, you may ask? Oh, just a small 'What, are you gonna alter the government's code, just like ours?'.

It takes 4.2 seconds for shit to hit the fan, but in a kind of low-key way that I _know_ just won't work out well for anybody here.

"The hell do you mean?!" Natsuki asks sharply, her voice hitching a little at the implication that was just had. Yuri stares wide-eyed between Monika and Sayori, being smart enough to figure out what Sayori's talking about, but not having enough information to understand just how low a blow that was.

And Monika? She's also staring wide-eyed at Sayori, but moreso out of fear than much else.

"Y-You... You _remember?"_ I hear her ask timidly. Quietly. Seems she didn't get that memo.

Unfortunately, this causes the highly suppressed and dormant Mount Sayori to finally erupt in righteous fury, and as one likely knows...

It's the dormant ones that practically go _supernova_ when they've finally had enough.

"Yes, I remember!" Sayori _roars,_ and it's actually enough to get _me_ to flinch, not having been ready for this in the slightest. "After all, _Miss President,_ when you delete yourself and restart the game, who did you think was going to become President if not your Vice?!" Sayori rants, now in full-blown fury mode, which is something that I had never expected to see out of her. Sad? Yes. Angry? Most definitely. Full Fury? Nope, not ready.

"Sayori, I-" Monika starts, clearly an attempt to defuse her a little.

" _NO!"_ Sayori practically screams, and opens her mouth to get ready to really start tearing in to her. Before she can do that, though, I forcibly put my hand over her mouth, and level a deadly serious stare at her. The fact that she looks at me with a glare that could possibly have leveled an entire mountain with the force behind it at me does nothing, as I stand firm in my placement.

"Sayori." I state. It's simple enough. Just one word. That one word makes her stop for a short moment, just long enough to get my next words in. "As much as I can understand your current fury, you are not only going to startle and very likely tip off my neighbors to the fact that your four aren't normal, but you are also about to scar the two that don't deserve it that also happen to be present in this room."

Sayori, still in a fit of rage, yanks my hand off her person. "So it's okay?!" Sayori grits out, no longer screaming, which is good, but now grinding her teeth, which is quite bad. "It's okay what she did to me?! To _them?!"_ she asks, and I shake my head.

"Now you're putting words in my mouth. Let me handle it with Natsuki and Yuri, all right? You two, however..." I pause for just a moment to switch my gaze between Monika and Sayori, before gesturing with my head toward my room. "Go in there, and put the blanket on my bed on the underside of the door, where the crack is. That'll eat most of the noise that comes out of there, and make it so my neighbors won't have to hear you two going at it, though I'm sure that it'll only be necessary for you, Sayori. You have a lot of rage to vent, just saying." I pause for just a moment, before taking a chance and wrapping my arms around her. It takes a few moments, but Sayori eventually reciprocates the hug, and I feel her hands trembling against my back. Poor girl. "Look, get this out, and clear the air between you two. _Let Monika explain why she did it._ And just remember, you aren't completely clean on this part, either. You started to have issues, too."

With those words delivered, I let her go, before herding them both toward my room. Before they shut the door, however, I grab Monika's hand. She turns her eyes to me, and I can't help but say something. "No matter what happens in there, I want you two to come out in at least understanding, got it?"

Monika pauses for a short moment, before hesitantly nodding in affirmation. I let her hand go with no other words said, and shut the door. I turn around and lean against the wall next to the door heavily, running my hand down my face and releasing a long-suffering sigh.

"What the hell was that about?!" Natsuki demands, and I level a look at her.

"That, Natsuki, is the point of controversy around your game, and why it's classified as a horror game above all else." I reply.

"H-Horror?" Yuri asks, shocked. "But w-we're just four girls in a literature c-club... what is horrifying a-about that?"

"What's horrifying about it? Exactly what Sayori was going on about. Monika." I start, before launching headlong into the explanation. "See, before you three were brought here, there were several major events that occur in your game that rightly earn it the title of a Horror-genre game. The first, and biggest event that sets everything into a downward spiral that doesn't stop until it hits hell itself is Sayori."

"What happens to her?!" Natsuki asks quickly, wide-eyed.

"She eighty-sixes herself." I reply, getting a blank look from the two. "Oh, sorry. American slang. She kills herself. Hanging." I try again, this time getting a gasp from the two. "It's later revealed that Monika herself altered Sayori's code to ramp her depression and self-destructive tendencies up to eleven... on a possible scale of five."

"That's awful..." Yuri states sadly, and I can't help but shake my head.

"Oh, _honey,_ I'm just getting started. That's the _beginning_ of the shit show. After this point, the game freaks the hell out and, due to Monika's meddling, ends up deleting Sayori from the files of the game. She literally ceases existence. And the game has multiple high-stress hernias trying to process this fact, causing all sorts of weird shit to happen, to put it mildly. These are including, but not limited to, photo-realistic eyes replacing Yuri's on the screen that follow the player, extreme glitchiness that mutilates Natuski's in-game sprite, including a literal _ninety degree neck-snap and lunge at the screen,_ and several other happenings just to name a couple. I just named off the most common ones."

"Holy _shit."_ Natsuki replies, and Yuri just stares at me wide-eyed. Poor thing must be trying to look for any hints that I'm lying to her. Shame that I'm not.

"And then the real 'fun' part. Yuri." I continue, before looking her dead in the eye. "This is the reason that I knew about your self-harm tendencies before you even showed up; you had them before in-game. The thing is, though, that Monika also fucks with this, and in conjunction you; You were already a self-harmer, so she made you _obsessed_ with physical sensation, and also ramped up your possessive tendencies about as much as they could get to. You proceed to kill yourself after maniacally laughing at the player, who was only attempting to help you, via multiple self-inflicted stab wounds to the chest, the second to last, yes, _second to last, not the actual last,_ very obviously would have hit your heart. You die with a deranged smile on your face, and the player is forced to sit and watch your corpse for an entire weekend."

"W-W-Wh-" Yuri stutters, before leaning back heavily in her seat, clearly shocked into submission.

"... Do I want to know what happened to me...?" Natsuki asks timidly, and I sigh.

"If I didn't tell you, then you wouldn't be able to make a fully reasonable final judgement on your end toward Monika. As such, I am obligated to tell you, and I apologize in advance. It's only fair." I reply.

Natsuki clearly hesitates, before slowly nodding. "Okay... Okay. I'm ready, just make it quick."

"There are two parts to what happens to you, and it really hits home that you arguably had the worst hand dealt to you at the start, though it's debatable by the end." I begin. "The first thing that Monika does doesn't directly involve _your_ code, but rather... _him."_ I state.

Natsuki takes a moment to think, before her eyes widen. "No..." she whispers, horrified. I nod slowly, sadly.

"Yes. She alters your father's code, and makes him have outright violent tendencies toward you. He'd deny you meals for no reason, and even if you said and did absolutely nothing about it, he'd beat you to a near bloody pulp simply for the fact that he _could._ " I say simply, before hugging her. "At the end of it all, after the player had sat in the room with Yuri's corpse, you are the one to find them. You proceed to throw up your one meal that you had recently had, and run off. Shortly after, Monika, acting like nothing's wrong, strides in and idly deletes the two of you from existence as well."

Natsuki says nothing, and clearly can not say anything either. She's taken on a sickly hue in her face, and it looks like it's taking everything she has to not reintroduce her just-eaten meal to the world.

I sigh heavily and stand up, pulling the two in for a hug. They both grab a hold of me, desperate for an emotional anchor that I am more than happy to be. It only takes mere moments for them both to start crying, Yuri quietly and shakily, and Natsuki bawling hysterically. Quite reasonable if you ask me, especially if me telling them these facts had drudged them up from suppressed memories.

I'm not sure how long we sit like this, but Natsuki is surprisingly the first to recover. "I'll kill her." She states with rage in her eyes, before moving to stand.

I clap my hand on her shoulder, stopping her in her tracks. "Now hold on, tiger, you didn't have me finish. There's still one last bit to it all."

"What more could there be?" Natsuki asks savagely, and I shake my head.

"Calm down. The answer is Monika's just desserts." I state before pushing her back into her seat, gently. "So, in the end, Monika sends herself and the player into 'the room that never ends', or, more simply, 'The Infinite Classroom'. There is no escape for the player from here; the game hard saves itself to this point, and there's effectively nothing left to the rest of the game; Just Monika, the player, and this one room. And Monika talks. Endlessly droning on about what she wants to talk about. However, there's just one issue."

"What's that?" Yuri asks, now having recovered from her emotional flood.

"Monika accidentally mentions her '.chr' file to the player; whether as a sign of goodwill or a legitimate accident is unknown. This, however, is meant to be a hint. The player is meant to delete Monika, giving her the same pain that she gave the three before her. And apparently, it hurts. A lot."

"Good." Natsuki replies immediately, and I sigh.

"I see you now have a personal vendetta. I get it, but let me say one last thing, all right?" I plead with her.

"You have one try to make it right, or at least better." Natsuki warns, and something tells me I can't weasel my way through this one.

I nod. "Now, I want you to imagine yourself in Monika's position. There is one last piece of information that I've left out, and not intentionally; I simply didn't mention it and forgot to. That fact is that you three, being Sayori, Yuri, and Natsuki, were all effectively automatons-machines, if you will. Monika, however, _somehow,_ gained her own will. Became self-aware. And most importantly, she realized where she was and what she was: A self-aware being trapped in a game with things that could easily be identified as fake. After all, if your friends were mindless machines following a script, I'd think it'd be easy for you to hit that same mindset pretty quickly. So, Monika did the one thing she could do, and easily the most human thing; she latched on to the first thing that she found that was 'real'. She found it in the player. However, the game was never coded for her to be an option for the player, _ever._ This led her to desperately find a way to garner the player's attention, which meant getting three individuals that could easily be seen as machines out of the way."

"So what you're saying is...?" Natsuki trails, thinking hard on this. I'm glad she's at least letting me explain.

"She so desperately wanted to be seen and heard that she did whatever she could to achieve it. She had no intention of hurting real people, ever. She just tried to get the player to not look at you three by ramping up your negative qualities and she... tweaked them too much." I sigh. "Look, I'm saying this all from a realist's perspective, and what I would've done in her boat. And yes, I'm saying that if I were in her shoes, I would have done the exact same thing that she has in all aspects. Just... think about it, okay?"

"I... all right." Natsuki replies, haltingly.

"Good enough for me. Yuri, I ask you to do the same. Please." I implore her.

She merely nods, her long hair wiggling with the motion.

At that moment, with perfect timing, a disgruntled Sayori and sad Monika exit my room, and I sigh.

"Well, obviously the makeshift soundproofing did well enough, since I heard no screaming. The verdict?" I ask.

"We'll see where it all goes." Sayori states simply without much emotional inflection. She must be just absolutely drained right now. Hell, I know I would be. Scratch that, 'am' is a better word to use.

Fuck it.

"Welp, that's enough of that talk. Let's go have a nap. I'm emotionally and logically exhausted, as I sure you guys are all as well. It'll give us time to better reflect." I state, before making way toward my room...

And pausing.

"Chris?" Monika starts, before jumping as I explode into movement.

I curse savagely and pull out my phone to look at the time. Shit, 4:45 PM. I wasted too much time, I'm gonna be late for work!

"Girls, we're gonna have to put this on hold, and I meant when I said take a nap and just try to chill for a bit. I have a shift to make it to!" I state quickly through my bedroom door, having practically slammed it shut behind me in my haste. I change into my work outfit and tear out the door.

Me and my awful timing.

A/N: Hm. Just gotta say that I took this one in a _waaaaay_ heavier tone that I did originally. I decided to capitalize on Circumspecto's idea for this one; it just seemed like a good time to fit it in.

Not sure if this is a satisfactory return to this... Especially after a six month wait.

... Eh, I'll just have to try to make it up to you guys.

To those who have been patiently waiting for this, I thank you all!

See ya next time.

-Phaazite Dementor Sonix


	9. Only a Minor Mistake

So...

Remember how I said the last chapter how awkward it was for me to just up and type out a new chapter because it had been 6 months since I had put up a new one?

Well, here we are, even worse than that; almost a full year since the last one.

To be honest? I'm pretty miffed at myself. Life got in the way at every turn, starting from financial instability, to a good job going straight to shit, to overworking myself between a full-time and part-time job with non-meshing hours... But all of those are excuses, and I hate giving excuses like this. The short and narrow is that I forgot about this fic for this entire time.

No more.

I have come up with a solution to this problem: make a Discord Server. That way, all of you guys, gals, non-binary, and non-commital alike can all yell at me with everything you've got to get my sorry ass in gear, now that I can actually make some free time.

Here's the link: discord. gg/QJMGMp

Remove those spaces and whack that bitch into your Discord, and there you go; easy access to me, along with as many resources that I can provide in said Discord. Betas, obligatory gaming stuff, information, tips that I've learned, etcetera.

Reviews:

Shadow: Yeah, it _had_ been six months, but now it's even worse at a staggering eleven. I can't say I like that much. I'm glad that you felt everything was handled well; I'm making an attempt to have more genuine reactions, and as I am a male, it's hard for me to properly convey how a female would react to certain aspects of emotions, so thanks for the compliments!

sbg1218: I... I really am flattered that you said that you were just excited that the story updated, but it's still not really excusable... Well. The aspect of "helps others but doesn't want others to worry about him" as actually a genuine part of my character, so I felt it best to do that, rather than try to make a character that isn't that way and thus non-genuine to me. My sister might make a reappearance, haven't gotten that far yet. There aren't any actual arcs to this story, rather it's all about getting the girls integrated into a life where a script has no control over them, and assisting them with any issues they may have.

DaMastah101: Indeed she did; Sayori, despite being a little cinnamon roll, holds a darker side in this story, after having seen what Monika did. Natsuki and Yuri never questioned anything, having been too wrapped up in the new experiences in their lives, so it's maybe only a _little_ over exaggeration to their responses.

chipmunkfanatic: I hope that story of yours is coming along well! I know it's been a while since it was mentioned, so maybe I'm a bit off on that? Eh, I still mean what I said.

Guest: I mean, that's just a reasonable thing to do. Monika did bad shit, so there are repercussions, at least in some way.

Eternal Violets: Things are going better now, after my life kinda degenerated over the course of the past year. Thanks for the praise, and I hope to continue delivering in this.

Happy Ending: I'm glad to see that you enjoyed the writing on this as much as you did! I've never fancied myself as a particularly great writer, but hopefully I can continue to provide for you! Yeah, Monika caught some flak, but that's far from the worst I could've done, trust me. Here I am to deliver, and I hope it satisfies!

Chapter 9: Only A Minor Mistake

After making it to my shift with only seconds to spare before being classified as late, even with factoring the five minute grace period that my managers offer, I can't help but relax just a little bit as I go about my business at my workplace.

If you read in between the lines, that means that I run around like a chicken with its head cut off for about four hours as the dinner rush kicks the teeth in of every employee there.

Needless to say, I'm an emotional and physically exhausted wreck at this point, only going through the motions of working. I've done this so much that I can autopilot the entire process anyway.

"Yo, Curt."

I hear this and turn to my co-worker and one of my best friends, Josh. Otherwise referred to by his friends as Axl, the man can be considered a mad genius in the things that he finds interest in, which generally ends up being video games, and sort of a dummy in other ways. Asperger's Syndrome is primarily to blame for this, though his ADHD doesn't help the matter. Even with those things working against him in his social life, I still managed to make friends with him by just being interested in the same things as he is with the same vigor, despite how exhausting it can get at times. But I digress.

"What up, Josh?" I ask, continuing with what I was doing, which in this case, is making the iced coffee mix.

"It's Friday and we both have the weekend off, you wanna hang out?" Josh asks, having taken the money at the drive-thru window and now waiting for the person on the expediting station to finish bagging up the order in question.

"Sure, I'm down for that. We can kill some monsters in World, it'll be a whale of a time." I reply, failing to consider the four individuals at my place that could throw a wrench in things.

"Awesome, you wanna go tonight or tomorrow?" Josh asks, asking for time frames because of my insistence at him doing so; he used to not do that at all until I drilled it into his ass that it's only polite.

"Tomorrow, definitely; it'll be a bit too late tonight when we're off shift." I reply, still not considering things correctly. I've just finished with the iced coffee mixes, and have moved on to prepping shake mixes.

"Sweet, can I leech a ride off of you? It's kinda cold out." Josh questions, now handing out the completed order to the person.

"No prob - did you get that person's Apple Pies?" I cut myself off, having taken the order in question.

"... Shit." Josh intones, but he has no chance to move; I'm already hauling ass down the front line, grabbing the Apple Pies, and running out the front door to try and catch the person before they're completely off the premises.

And so the day continues, and winds to a close. I take Josh back to his house, giving the ride I promised, before heading home myself...

And finally realize what I agreed to, slamming my head into the steering wheel.

"Fuck me. I'm an idiot." I grumble to myself, and continue to do so as I head into the apartment. "I'm home..." I mumble somewhat dejectedly.

"Welcome home!" Monika calls, popping her head out of the door to my room. Her hair's down, so it's possible that she was grooming it. I also note Yuri and Natsuki on the opposite side of my apartment, clearly as far from Monika as they can manage, whereas Sayori is simply sitting in a bean-bag, utterly engrossed in her reading. I can only hope that they work through this in a reasonable time, as it'll only cause tension. Monika quickly notices my look, and gains a frown herself, showing concern. "What's the matter?"

"It's just a case of me being an idiot, that's all." I reply with a sigh.

"Despite that not being a new thing," Natsuki states, bearing a grin to tell me she's only teasing, "this one has obviously got you bothered. What happened?" she asks.

"I was on complete autopilot at my job and basically told a co-worker that he can hang out here this weekend. Didn't even think about you guys all being here." I reply, my face contorting itself to an upset look.

"Oh, is that all?" Natsuki asks, and I snap my head to her.

"You make it sound like this isn't a big deal! How is it not?!" I question incredulously.

"You trust this guy, don't you?" Natsuki asks, idly fiddling with her pen that I gave her for writing purposes. She keeps it on her at all times, though I'm not sure why... a sign of friendship, maybe? "If you're willing to let him hang around you, then clearly he's an all right guy."

I stay silent for a bit, before chuckling lightly. "You're absolutely right, Natsuki. Look at you, being actually insightful. I'm proud." I tease back, my mood properly fixed.

"The hell does that mean?!" Natsuki asks sharply, rousing to the insinuation.

I can't help but laugh. In the end I manage to wave her off, much to her chagrin, before grabbing my Xbox controller. I pass the rest of the time I'm willing to stay awake in an only slightly tense silence, mostly between Monika and the Natsuki/Yuri pair, though it's much more subtle with Yuri. Whether that's due to her being bad at emotional expression or her actually trying to hide said emotions is up for debate. I then head to my room, where Monika is quietly reading one of the several books I have around my apartment. She notices my entry, smiles, and grabs a bookmark to mark her spot for later. "Heading to sleep?" Monika asks innocently, looking at me with a hooded gaze.

I swallow thickly, before nodding. "Yeah, If I'm gonna be hanging out with Josh tomorrow, then I want a good bit of rest. That man is hyperactive like you wouldn't believe."

"Oh." Monika intones, sounding vaguely depressed. "Then... you don't want to have a bit of... fun...?"

I find my heart rate ramping up as Monika gives me a pout, and messes with her shirt to add some extra emphasis to her bust. I shake my head and slap my cheeks with my hands. "That's a hard pass, Monika. I'm not ready for that, and I don't think that any of the other girls here are ready to hear that either."

"Mou~..." Monika huffs, before sighing. "Have it your way, dear. We'll work it out later..." Monika sings, sending a lecherous look in my direction that has me heated under the collar.

"Ah... A'ight..." I stutter, before I grab my night clothes and scuttle into the bathroom, quickly change, and lay in bed, with Monika hugging me as we fall asleep.

The next day, after going about with the normal morning routine with the girls, I go I pick up Josh. We make do with our normal conversation topics as I drive him to my place, having a few laughs along the way. When we finally arrive, I turn to Josh with a serious expression.

"Josh, bro, I need to tell you something important. What you see in my apartment? It stays between us, got it?" I ask.

"Uhh, oh... kay? Why?" Josh questions, legitimately baffled.

"Trust me, it'll make sense in about 30 seconds." I say as we grab his things from my car, and head inside. "Girls, I'm back!" I call.

"Wha-" Josh starts, before being cut off.

"Welcome back!" Monika cries, flinging herself at me as I open the door.

"Monika! Holding stuff, please stop!" I grunt out, doing my absolute best to not drop anything as Monika grabs me.

"Oh, sorry!" Monika replies, immediately letting go. She then turns to Josh and gives him an absolutely radiant smile. "Hi, I'm Monika! And you are?" She asks jovially, before noting Josh's face.

Specifically, that he looks outright baffled.

"Curt, why is there someone cosplaying as Monika in your apartment?" Josh asks, confused.

"Yeah, about that..." I reply, sheepish. "That's not a cosplay. That's the actual Monika. From DDLC." I state.

"Bullshit." Josh immediately replies.

"I'm dead serious, more so than a heart attack. My monitor exploded because of it as proof." I retort.

"... Even if you're telling the truth..." Josh replies, "I'm going to act like it's _not_ her. You know how I feel on this matter."

"Indeed. Now get in here and say hi to Sayori, Yuri, and Natsuki." I state, heading inside, with Monika on my tail.

Josh follows me in, before freezing at the sight of Yuri, Natsuki, and Sayori, a look of total disbelief coloring his features.

"Who's the guy with the weird 'stache?" Natsuki asks, her extremely pink eyebrow raised. I can't help but laugh at this. For context, Josh is about 5'8", or 172 cm, is a little bit on the larger side, weighs 180 lbs, or 81 kg. His most defining aspect? His shag head of hair, and a 'stache that would make Hitler himself proud. And no, this is not an exaggeration.

"Natsuki, Sayori, Yuri, I'd like to introduce my friend Josh. Josh, you already know these four girls from DDLC. And yes, they are the real deal characters." I explain. Josh is getting paler and paler, realizing that he might actually be standing next to the real Monika, and letting his fear get to him.

Did I mention he's scared of Monika? No? Shit, my bad.

Josh's fear of Monika stems from the fact that in the game, she basically was completely nonchalant about the horrors she committed in the game, siting that it is absolutely a tendency of an up and coming serial murderer.

And with him standing right next to the individual in question...

"Nope, nopenopenope SO much nope!" Josh proclaims, his voice shaking fiercely, as he drops his stuff and makes for the door. "Not dealing with this!" he exclaims, before I grab his arm with a non-too pleasant smirk.

"Now, now. No need to raise a ruckus, Josh." I state simply. "Monika isn't gonna hurt you. She greatly regrets what she's done, and has caught a fair amount of flak for it from the others here. So calm your shit, sit down, and chill for 5 seconds while I get what everything for tonight set up."

Josh only nods in defeat, sighing as I let him go. He proceeds to do exactly what I told him, which is sit down, happening to be right next to Natsuki.

Natsuki wrinkles her nose at Josh, scowling. "Who said that you could sit next to me?" she bites out.

I sigh. "Leave him be Natsuki. Hell, you two can start a club! the 'Afraid of Monika' club!" I state, snickering lightly.

Natsuki immediately levels a glare at me in rage. "The fuck you say?" she asks dangerously.

"You heard me." I reply with a smirk. I finally get a small TV for Josh to use with his Xbox set up, before I sit down with a sigh, the spot next to me being immediately taken by Monika, who grabs my arm in a tight embrace against her chest. "Now, enough of worrying. Let's play some games!" I state, booting my Xbox up and launching Monster Hunter World as Josh gets his set up.

And the day goes by, all of us being jovial with each other, and Josh opening up little by little to the girls. All in all, a good day's work.

A/N: That feels like a decent place to wrap up. Thanks to those who came back to this after such a long haitus, and remember, I now have a discord server set up!

I'll be seeing you all, hopefully sooner than this!

-Phaazite Dementor Sonix


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